https://larryseaman.bandcamp.com/track/tanya-grew-tired-of-talking
https://larryseaman.bandcamp.com/track/the-partys-over
Larry Seaman, “Death Takes a Holiday” (Flak). One of Austin’s best songwriters since he emerged with the Standing Waves in the 1980s, Seaman played in bands for decades until releasing an album under his own name for the first time last year. “Death Takes a Holiday” builds on what he established with 2019’s “Resurrectionist.” Tuneful electric rockers such as “A Lighthouse in Your Eyes” and the title track commingle with more acoustically oriented fare such as the moody “All the Colors of the Dark” and “Have You Seen My Bride,” co-written with Walt Wilkins about their respective parents’ twilight years. Best of all is the instantly indelible melodic pop tune “Levitate,” which features Jon Dee Graham on lap steel. Others who contributed to the sessions were co-producer Ron Flynt, guitarists Jon Sanchez and Whit Williams, backing vocalists Lisa Gamache and Walt & Tina Wilkins, and drummer Dana Myzer. If Seaman’s guitar-based songcraft feels almost like a lost art in an increasingly wide-open Austin music scene, that just makes what he’s doing all the more significant in keeping alive a vital part of the city’s creative legacy. -Peter Blackstock, Austin 360
Larry Seaman: Death Takes a Holiday
Bandcamp
Title taken from a 1934 Fredric March film about the Grim Reaper falling in love in Italy, Death Takes a Holiday masks its dark subject matter. Six songs into the second solo album by ATX New Wave pillar Larry Seaman of the Standing Waves, "A Lighthouse in Your Eyes" has a sunny Seventies, Laurel Canyon, country-rock feel as it rides on a cushion of massed acoustic guitars and harmonized slide guitar hooks from Jon Sanchez. Then you hear the lyrics: "Longing and despair, I pretend that I don't care/ Dot my I's and keep the chaos all at bay." He warbles with enough pathos and ennui to make Morrissey sound like he fronted the Archies. It's merely the tip of a bright, shiny, yet ultimately mordant LP, which of course fits 2020 like narrowly cut silk trousers. Features sympathetic backing from other Austin A-listers like Jon Dee Graham. – Tim Stegall, Austin Chronicle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRN5OkPOIu4
Larry Seaman, “Resurrectionist.” For four decades, a welcome constant in Austin music has been that Seaman will always have quality new songs at the ready. Frontman for proto-new-wavers Standing Waves circa 1980, he’s fronted various bands since then (Last Straw, Violet Crown, Seaman’s Quartet), some leaning more toward edgy rock, others more acoustic in nature. “Resurrectionist” covers the full run between those bases, bound together by consistently brilliant songwriting. “Long Slow Fade” and “Coming Around” are emotionally powerful, guitar-driven panoramas that anchor the middle of the record, while “Things Shouldn’t Be This Way” and the closing “Spring Comes” connect with a lighter touch. A revealing cover of Lou Reed’s “Venus in Furs” is the lone non-original here, but the most welcome inclusion is “Only Memories,” an instantly memorable pop gem written with Standing Waves bandmate Bruce Henderson that dates back to 1982 but somehow had never seen the light of day before this. -Peter Blackstock, Austin 360
Schoolteacher, singer-songwriter/guitarist, assemblage artist Larry Seaman announced his local entry into music via the Farfisa-flavored Standing Waves, the most definitively New Wave of all the Raul's-era acts. His edgy sensibility has sharpened over time through a series of bands (Last Straw, Violet Crown, Seaman's Quartet), leading to this solo work. Varying shades of guitar rock range from Tom Petty fronting Television ("Gravedigger") to the menacing and bluesy ("Strings Attached"), and that's just the first two tunes! There's also echoes of solo George Harrison ("Coming Around," "Spring Comes") and a cover of Lou Reed's "Venus in Furs," which somehow makes the Velvet Underground chestnut sound like the Left Banke's baroque pop. "Only Memories," a co-write with ex-Standing Waves member Bruce Henderson somehow left undone since 1982, hurtles along like an early R.E.M. outtake. Resurrectionist bursts with flavor and quality songwriting. -Tim Stegall, Austin Chronicle
Standing Waves
Seaman first made his presence felt in music with the band Standing Waves. No Judy, from their first release, is featured in Rick Linklater's film Everybody Wants Some. A cd, A Short History of Standing Waves, part 1, and a new ep, Here Comes the Twist Again, are available at Waterloo Records, Antone’s Records, and End of an Ear in Austin, TX.
Why Not Satellite
Why Not Satellite, Larry is joined by Randy Franklin (Standing Waves, Wild Seeds), Cindy Toth (Reivers), and Steve McCarthy (Wannabes). The cd is available at Waterloo and End of an Ear in Austin, TX.
Acoustic music and other projects
Seaman performs solo and small combo acoustic shows . His songs appear on various compilations: Woodshock, Underground, Unplug This, and Herd It Through the Grapevine