Closely Watched Trains Music

Closely Watched Trains’ broad influences and instrumentation work their way into a uniquely unified sound that runs the spectrum from distorted garage rock to orchestral quiet folk. Founded in the winter of 2007 by Jon Schlesinger (banjo, guitar, lap steel, vocals) and John Gage (drums, vibraphones, marimba, percussion), the began recording half written songs and capturing ideas at Jon's garage studio. Citing influences from The Who, Ramones, Dylan, Sonic Youth, Television, Wilco, Velvet Underground, Miles Davis, Minutemen, and on & on, the two set off to create a record that would cite their influences but be a sound all it's own. Seeking to fill out the band for shows, they asked friends John Leonard (bass, vocals) and Taralyn Bulyk (violin) to jam. Soon, the band took hold as a quartet, with both J and T being integral contributors. With this line-up, Closely Watched Trains managed to breathe new life into several genres at once with sonic explorations that are organic, orchestral, and raw.  The result is a sound familiar yet impossible to define with genre tags alone…an aural landscape--pastoral and surreal--that beckons and is easy to get lost in.

Since its inception, CWT has played at the Sidewalk Café in NYC and shared bills in CT with Jesse Malin, Soft Black, and local luminaries The Furors, Mountain Movers, MT Bearington, Americana sweetheart Lys Guillorn, and sonic sludge rockers Myty Konkeror. The band has also had the privilege of gracing a few festival stages.