We’ve already raved about the lead single. Here is your chance to stream A Fragile Tomorrow’s forthcoming Be Nice Be Careful in its entirety before the January 8, 2013 street date.
A band capable of both skirling jangle-pop prowess and this intriguing, age-defying depth, A Fragile Tomorrow started out as a family band that included three siblings — Sean (vocals, guitar), Dominic (drums, vocals), and Brendan Kelly (lead guitar) — from Montgomery, New York. Bassist Shaun Rhoades joined subsequent to the group’s debut Wishful Thinking in 2006.
Now based in South Carolina, they went on to two more well-received projects, with ever bigger names attached. Grammy-winner Malcolm Burn (Emmylou Harris, Daniel Lanois, Patti Smith) produced 2008’s Beautiful Noise, while Peter Holsapple (The dB’s, Continental Drifters) and Amy Ray (The Indigo Girls) appeared on 2010’s Tripping over Nothing. Susan Cowsill (Cowsills, Continental Drifters) also sang on 2008’s “Zydeco Girl.”
2011 saw the release of the concert souvenir Live at Awendaw Green, even as A Fragile Tomorrow secured opening gigs with the Indigos and the Bangles. Sean and Dominic appeared on backup vocals during “Closer to Fine” from the Indigo Girls’ most recent live recording, Staring Down the Brilliant Dream.
Be Nice Be Careful boasts similar gravitas, with a production assist from Mitch Easter, who worked with the dB’s and R.E.M. when not leading his own critically lauded 1980s group Let’s Active. Don Dixon (a producer with R.E.M., Chris Stamey of the dB’s, the Smithereens), Amy Ray, and Vicki and Debbi Peterson from the Bangles also contributed.
If there seems to be, just beneath the power-pop veneer (and even within their band name), this darker sense of portent, that came the hard way. Sean and Dominic Kelly both have cerebral palsy. Paul, another brother, died when they were younger. In keeping, much of their earliest work had an introspective bent, but as Sean has matured as a songwriter, a broader perspective and range — not to mention attention from some of AFT’s biggest musical heroes — has followed.
Be Nice Be Careful is where they put it all together. Enjoy.
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