The foundation for Blueshift Signal was set in 1989, when Kip Savoie and Ron Kuba formed a band named Grace Mansion in their eastern Long Island home. In the summer of 1990, the band moved to Providence, RI and met David Carpenter, who joined the band as their new drummer. Grace Mansion kept playing shows until Kip decided to leave - a decision that led to Jason Bouchard joining on bass, Ron’s brother Mike playing guitar and percussion, and the band changing their name to Blueshift Signal. With their new full band, the four Rhode Island-ers began to play clubs throughout the eastern New England area while honing their sound into something both representative of their tastes (Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, The Jesus and Mary Chain), but still totally their own.

The band had a major breakthrough in 1991 when they were introduced to the Newport-based audio engineer and studio owner Frank Gardner, who would go on to be a member of the 4AD band Lakuna (alongside Davide Marcizo of The Throwing Muses). A powerful dynamic was immediately recognized, and Frank was able to not only bring the band’s live shows to new heights, but also capture the intensely dynamic sounds of Blueshift Signal in his Dream Edit studio. The outcome of all this hard work was 1993’s remarkable Seven Natural Scenes, which the band self-released on their own Ethereal Records imprint. The CD did well, even leading one critic to dub the band the “Stateside Slowdive”. They began to expand outside their Rhode Island locale and play shows up and down the east coast.

Unfortunately, this incarnation of Blueshift Signal would only yield one more recording, Halo (which appeared on the Wake Up Smiling compilation issued by Bedazzled in 1995), as Mike and David both left the following year. Ron and Jay continued on together, however, and were able to brainstorm new sounds, songs and instrumentals in the studio alongside their new drummer and percussionist John Orsi (himself an accomplished solo musician). By 1995, the trio were rehearsing and writing new material together in a totally new and improvisational way, with the band tracking and recording everything in one take. These recordings would comprise 1997’s Waterside EP, a perfectly natural progression into a more exotic sound - while also remaining quintessentially Blueshift.

Following the EP, the band continued to play for the remainder of the year until it was decided the they would disband, leaving the members to follow their own disparate directions.

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