Something ventured: Fountenberry sets off on new path
By Chris Nixon
For the San Diego Union-Tribune
August 24, 2006
You are soft and cuddly / You are warm and fuzzy, sang San Diegan Ron Fountenberry with his former band, The Incredible Moses Leroy, on the band's first single, “Fuzzy.” Sweet strings hovered above a sampled female chorus of la-la-la's as Fountenberry crooned a simple pop tune about sweet love with a touch of irony (Let's paint the town red, like Carrie).
“There's a certain element that people really liked on the first Moses Leroy record,” recalled Fountenberry. “It was probably the bubbly poppy-ness. But I felt like – because of the circumstances involved in making that record – it was a little too saccharine.”
Fountenberry's first album, “Electric Pocket Radio,” earned him spots on a national Gap ad along with numerous shout-outs and instant credibility near and far. But the cuddly fuzziness turned out to be too cute for Fountenberry. He and his former mates shifted gears with the outfit's second disc, “Becomes The Soft.Lightes,” which turned out to be more prophesy than poetry.
Fountenberry decided to take a slightly more contemplative path for his second Incredible Moses Leroy album, produced by crack drummer Joey Waronker (R.E.M., Beck). (The band was named for Fountenberry's grandfather, but most people mistook him for Mr. Leroy.)
The singer could sense his label's displeasure with the new direction, and he tired of being mistaken for Moses Leroy himself. He started planning his next incarnation: The Soft.Lightes.
So now a couple of years later, Incredible Moses Leroy remains another local band fading from memory, the Gap ads have long since stopped running and mention of Fountenberry often prompts a quizzical “where-is-he-now?” look on people's faces.
But this local musician never stopped writing his appealing indie pop music.
“When people decide you're not 'hot' anymore – or whatever the term is in the music industry – it's really hard to get people's attention,” said Founten-berry. “You'll see it with local bands. They'll get a bunch of attention. But if nothing actually happens, people start associating that name with the fact that they never got signed or whatever. I just felt like we were going down a path that wasn't really positive.”
Fountenberry looks to jump back into the music scene spotlight – locally and nationally – with his new cast of characters called The Soft.Lightes. Along with Moses Leroy veteran bassist Christian Dunn, Fountenberry is joined by drummer Tom Fogerty and keyboardist Jeff Hibshman. The quartet recorded a full-length album last year, which is set for release in early 2007 on Modular Recordings.
Despite the indie cred of his label (Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, Wolfmother, The Black Keys), Fountenberry made the record on the cheap.
“Eighty percent of it was done in my apartment, and the other 20 percent at our bass player's house in his garage, for drums and stuff,” said Fountenberry, who will also release an E.P. in October. “It was pretty low budget. It wasn't the prettiest surroundings: I literally did my vocals in my wife's closet. It wasn't the most glamorous situation, but we made it work.”
The songs on The Soft.Lightes myspace page sound like vintage Moses Leroy, combining elements of “Electric Pocket Radio's” saccharine sweetness and “Becomes The Soft.Lightes” more introspective sound.
“I really like where we are musically,” said Fountenberry, who takes the stage at The Casbah tonight with The Soft.Lightes. “And I like the prospects for the future in terms of our possibilities with these people. We have a lot more places we can go now.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
