Hot off a multi-state tour and two appearances on NPR with their band Southeast Engine, brothers Adam and Jesse Remnant will make a much-anticipated return to Athens this weekend — but this time without the rest of the band.
With his fellow members of Southeast Engine spread across the eastern United States, Adam decided to start a solo career based on a desire to perform more often.
Several guests, including his wife, Amanda, and his brother, Jesse, who is also the bassist and secondary voice for Southeast Engine, will be joining Adam.
“It’s been a great joy to have my brother in the band,” Adam said. “He sings harmony and there is no one better.”
Both have said that being siblings creates a certain connection that makes harmonies blend perfectly.
“I can’t explain it, but there’s something about siblings’ harmonies that is unmatched,” Jesse said. “Voices mesh and it blends perfectly.”
Due to the brothers’ six-year age difference, Jesse didn’t join the band until he was out of high school, two years after Adam had received his undergraduate degree.
Southeast Engine has experienced a significant amount of success in 2011 with the release of their album “Canary.” The album received national attention, most notably on NPR. World Café featured the band last April and it was one of the performers during last October’s Mountain Stage performance in Athens.
“Friends and family hear you on the radio and freak out,” Adam said. “It’s pretty cool.”
“Canary” was inspired by the Appalachian region and reflects on the life and struggles of a family surviving the Great Depression of the 1930s.
In addition to Southeast Engine, Jesse has another band, Human Cannonball. The band was inspired by his solo project and has a slightly “poppier” sound, Jesse said.
“It’s been pretty easy,” Jesse said. “Southeast Engine will go on tour for blocks of time, and then I get to come home to play with Human Cannonball or be with my family.”
The two brothers will swing by Donkey Coffee and Espresso, 17 ½ W. Washington St., Friday night.
wh092010@ohiou.edu
