Suburban Eyes – a collaborative project between old friends and fellow travelers Eric Richter (Christie Front Drive, Antarctica), Jeremy Gomez (Mineral, The Gloria Record), and John Anderson (Boys Life) – are excited to present its debut song, ‘Uncomplicated Lives.’
Originally written, demoed, and filed away many years ago by Richter, ‘Uncomplicated Lives’ was brought back to life at the outset of this new project and is presented here in its final form with contributions from Chris Simpson (Mineral, Mountain Time) and Kerry McDonald (Christie Front Drive), with mixing by the Grammy Award-winning Peter Katis (The National, Frightened Rabbit).
After many years of crossing paths in the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2000s, ultimately drifting off in different directions as their respective bands dissolved, Richter, Gomez, and Anderson reconnected in 2020 and soon realized that they shared a desire to create again. While exploring different musical territory – drawing from influences gathered over many years of profound music appreciation – Suburban Eyes embraces the same DIY sensibilities of their former bands and shared experiences. It is with this kindred spirit that they approach the process of creating new and meaningful music together.
Richter had the following to share about ‘Uncomplicated Lives’ and its origin: “There was an outdoor flea market on Broadway in downtown Manhattan that I would frequent in the late-‘90s. One weekend I bought a cheap, sort of beat-up, acoustic guitar for $12. It didn’t have the greatest tone, but a few open chords sounded great on it. In the summer of 2008, while I was living in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, I wrote a handful of songs on it and recorded them on a little handheld digital recorder.”
“‘Uncomplicated Lives’ was the only song that survived those writing sessions,” she continues. “I ended up demoing it at home a few years later and it just sat in a folder on my computer for 13 years. When we started this project, I shared a bunch of demos that I recorded over the years, and ‘Uncomplicated Lives’ seemed to stick, and I’m really happy that this song is seeing the light of day. Thank you to Chris Simpson and Kerry McDonald for their contributions as well.”