“…an artist who slow cooks his soul-rock to tender, lo-fi perfection with a mélange of styles — a hint of Hawaiian here, a dash of Memphis soul there, a pinch of early reggae to finish it off. Tasty stuff.” —Relix

“…align seemingly disparate elements of bossa nova, dub, folk, blues, garage-rock, soul, gospel, and country into one cohesive, cross-cultural soiree.” In the artist’s own words, “It’s definitely dance music.”

Floating Action — It’s the latest amazing indie rock lo-fi magic from Asheville’s Seth Kaufman
Floating Action is the pseudonym of musician, songwriter, and producer Seth Kauffman. After releasing both a debut EP and his first full-length on Hightone Records in 2006, Kauffman returned in the Fall of 2007 with another homemade gem, ‘Research’ (Park the Van). This April, Park The Van released Kauffmanʼs most accomplished work to date — and his first under his new moniker — the self-titled ʻFloating Actionʼ.

Mixed by Bill Moriarty at Dr. Dog’s American Diamond Studio in Philadelphia, ʼFloating Actionʼ displays Kauffman’s marked growth as both a producer and songwriter: “A concept I like to integrate to give a more descriptive texture to a piece is attaching the wrong type of style-approach for a song…”. This offkilter approach manages to align seemingly disparate elements of bossa nova, dub, folk, blues, garage-rock, soul, gospel, and country into one cohesive, cross-cultural soiree. In the artist’s own words, “It’s definitely dance music”.

“There are always various secrets that go into good BBQ. Sometimes you can guess what it is, sometimes you canʼt — but thereʼs always that certain something you canʼt quite put your finger on that makes it all work. Such is the case with North Carolinaʼs Seth Kauffman, an artist who slow cooks his soul-rock to tender, lo-fi perfection with a mélange of styles — a hint of Hawaiian here, a dash of Memphis soul there, a pinch of early reggae to finish it off. Tasty stuff.” —Relix

His 2006 full-length debut ‘Ting’ received rave reviews, and the fluid way the album bridges so many musical styles incited more than one critic to refer to Kauffman as the “southern-fried Beck“. In addition to working on his own music since his 2006 debut, Kauffman has found time to perform on Band of Horses’ Tyler Ramsey’s solo release, to tour as part of Tyler’s and up-and-coming americana chanteuse Shannon Whitworth’s bands, and to produce, perform, and write much of Universal recording artist Courtney Jaye’s forthcoming album, ‘Queen of Sabotage’. With his own band, Kauffman has shared the stage with Band Of Horses, Athens, GA’s The Whigs, and Park the Van label-mates Dr. Dog.

Outside from the occasional backing vocal and a lone bass guitar take, every track on ‘Floating Action’ was written, performed, produced, and recorded by Kauffman himself. No small feat for some, but when you consider the complex arrangements and breadth of instrumentation involved — vocals, guitar, bass, drums, violin, sitar, ethnic percussion, and keyboards — you begin to see just how talented the guy really is. Even his website and the artwork and packaging of the albums are Seth’s own designs. According to Kauffman, his D.I.Y. approach is as much a practical choice as it is an aesthetic one, “a lot of times, it’s ideas, feelings that I can’t really tell somebody. I would spend more time finding the right person to do it, so I just do it myself”.

“There arenʼt too many acts in the Carolinas making music like Seth Kauffman; then there isnʼt too much music like this being made, period. Chockablock with soul influences, gospel harmonies, Caribbean syncopation, and clanking African polyrhythms, Kauffmanʼs music is deliberately lo-fi, making his songs sound like time capsules from Motown or Trenchtown. What would more production do to their recording.” —Shuffle Magazine

Floating Action, on CD