Dolour [doh-ler]

Dolour

[doh-ler]

Dolour is a musical alias of songwriter/producer Shane Tutmarc who lives and records in Seattle, Washington. As Dolour, he has released 4 full-lengths, and a handful of independent EPs and 7"s since 2000. In late 2005, A Matter of Time: 2000-2005, a collection of album tracks and rarities was released by Japanese label Quince Records. After a 2-year hiatus, The Years in the Wilderness was released on August 29th, 2007 on Quince Records.

History

Dolour first appeared in Seattle, Washington's independent music scene in 1997; by the time Waiting For A World War was released in April 2001 the name was being used purely as Shane's musical pseudonym. Freed from the constraints of a "collaborating band", Shane experimented with many different songwriting approaches and recorded over 100 demos before he entered the studio in the fall of 2001 to begin his second album, Suburbiac. Collaborating on the production with longtime friend, Aaron Sprinkle, these recordings ended up landing Dolour a deal with Seattle label Fugitive Records. The album was released on October 29th, 2002. As soon as Suburbiac was finished, Shane put together a home studio, and worked for a year and a half on various album projects, the fruits of these labors were showcased on New Old Friends (2004). While the guitars and drums were more upfront and aggressive then ever before, the arrangements also showed a new level of maturity with their intricate layers of strings, horns, synthesizers, and vocal harmonies. It is the first album Shane took sole production credit for. Initially released independently in February 2004, it was eventually re-released on Damien Jurado's label, Made In Mexico Records in November 2004. Over the course of 2004-2006 Shane recorded two separate albums, Hell or Highwater and Storm & Stress, which have now been released together as The Years in the Wilderness.

Since the completion of The Years in the Wilderness in early 2007, Shane started a new group with his family members called Shane Tutmarc & The Traveling Mercies. On December 6, 2007, Shane announced that Dolour were essentially finished as he focused his efforts on his new project.