Lift to Experience

Lift to Experience

Lift to Experience is an alternative country, shoegaze and xian psych group from Denton, Texas, United States. It forms in 1996 and centres on vocalist and guitarist Josh T. Pearson, with drummer Andy Young and bassist Josh Browning in the original line-up. The band remains active.

Sound and style

Its sound builds around a solo guitar treated with heavy effects pedals and a modified Leslie speaker. The music combines layered wall-of-sound textures with feedback-driven arrangements. The band is also associated with post-rock, space rock and indie rock.

Career

At SXSW in 2000, the group impresses Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie, who sign it to Bella Union the same day. Its main release is The Texas Jerusalem Crossroads, issued in 2001. The album uses Biblical Christian imagery, especially references to the Second Coming of Christ, alongside explicit expressions of love for Texas and the United States.

The record initially receives little attention and is only available in Europe, as there is not enough money for a US release. Its original mix is unmastered, because Bella Union can afford either mixing or mastering but not both with Josh T. Pearson overseeing the process. That version later becomes a cult favourite on online music forums.

Reissues and later activity

The group splits soon after the album appears, then later reforms after the death of David Bowie. Pearson asks Bella Union for the rights to The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads so the band can remaster it, and the album is brought to Mute Records. In 2017, with engineer Matt Pence, it is remastered and issued in digital and physical formats. Mute also reissues alternate recordings of Falling from Cloud 9 as an EP, and the 1997 EP is reissued on vinyl in the deluxe box set for The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads.

The band undertakes several reunion tours but has not recorded a follow-up album. Pearson also pursues a solo career. Andy Young forms Western Arms with Elbow singer Guy Garvey and later leads The Flowers of God, who release a four-song EP in September 2010. Josh Browning later plays bass in the Fort Worth shoegaze band Year of the Bear.