PRESS

	REVIEW | Escape This World on "Steal This Track" Indie pop is bread and butter for Denver’s Gritch, also, but the electronically augmented group has a very different take on things. Emotive vocals and chiming guitars are about all the band has in common with Amazing Twin, while synthetic keyboard sounds and dance-friendly beats take Gritch in a very different direction. Though the band has recently undergone some major lineup changes, making the future sound of Gritch uncertain, the songs on “Arrivals & Departures” — Gritch’s second full-length, released last month — deftly leverage ear-grabbing melodies, ass-shaking beats and dense sonic layers that will appeal to fans of both Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand. For a sample, steal “Escape This World” right now, then rock on to Gritch’s home on Bandcamp to get the whole album for $5 and their debut album, “The World Was Asleep” for free! - Eryc Eyl
	EVENT | Arrivals & Departures CD Release Show Christian Atencio and Sean Payton formed Gritch in the spring of 2006, brought together by a mutual love for well-crafted, well-produced pop songs informed by simple melodies. The band's debut album, The World Was Asleep, was full of refreshingly spare songs with subtly lush atmospheres and a penchant for taking a melancholy undertone and turning it into a yearning hopefulness. Like the Cure and Depeche Mode, Gritch (due at the Larimer Lounge on Saturday, November 6) mixes synthesizers with more traditional rock instrumentation and electronic drums. Atencio's winsome vocals and acoustic guitar ground the music, while guitarist Alejandro Parra's ethereal and wiry guitar work and Payton's multi-instrumental acrobatics weave the stuff of daydreams into the songs. Celebrating the release of its latest album, the gorgeously stark Arrivals & Departures, Gritch is back on stage after an extended hiatus. - Tom Murphy
	CD REVIEW | Sunday Morning Train EP The world may continue going blue in the face while holding its breath for a new Postal Service release—in the meantime, Denver has its own flag-bearers of electronica-spiked pop in Gritch...the new EP Sunday Morning Train—whose release is being celebrated at the Larimer Lounge Saturday—is a simultaneously warm and icy slice of aural sweetness.
	CD REVIEW | The world was asleep... The members of Gritch were definitely on to something titling their debut full-length The World Was Asleep... The music presented here is perfect for an inexplicably early start on an uneventful and unexpected day off, when everything feels hazy, peaceful and comfortingly dreamlike for longer than you have any right to expect. The combination of electronic pop and traditional rock instrumentation recalls the sublimely sentimental and melancholy tones of Technique-era New Order and OMD circa Architecture and Morality. "Sunday Morning Train" is the perfect song for a rainy day in early spring, while "In the Meantime" is classic down-tempo synth pop in an era littered with superficial attempts at innovative soundscaping. Displaying an instinct for moodily uplifting melodies, Gritch's initial offering is impressive by anyone's standards. - Tom Murphy