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http://www.freetimes.com/stories/15/20/children-of-the-sunbeamed

Volume 15, Issue 20
Published September 19th, 2007
Locals Only

Children Of The Sunbeamed
Afternoon Naps Are Cute Without Being Cutesy
By Emily Anderson

Afternoon Naps, Black Canary, Kiddo
Sat, Sep 22nd - 1:00 pm
Tickets: $2
Beachland Ballroom and Tavern
15711 Waterloo Road , Cleveland, OH,
44110
216-383-1124

Naps time - Local band celebrates summer's end.
If staring at that pile of sweaters in the back of your closet makes you feel sort of sad and itchy, you can find solace in the music of Afternoon Naps. Born out of singer-guitarist Tom Dechristafaro's obsession with obscure '60s sunshine pop, they have a sound that feels light-hearted and fresh even when the subject matter is as somber as summer's end.

"I kind of had this little bedroom project - I didn't know what to do with it, it was kind of electronic-y," says Dechristafaro. "I lived with the Dreadful Yawns, and they were saying you should meet this girl who plays piano and stuff."

That girl is Leia Hohenfeld, the Naps bespectacled singer, keyboardist/organist and general glee-giver, who adds, "At the time I was in the Volta Sound. Ben [of the Dreadful Yawns] had told me that Tom was looking for a girl singer for an electronic pop band. It was the two of us for almost a year."

The music that Dechristafaro and Hohenfeld produced together was not electronic-y. It was earnest indie pop that celebrated the cute without being cutesy, and paid homage to the '60s sound without simply mimicking it. During this period, Dechristafaro and Hohenfeld wrote half the songs that appear on the Naps' new album, Sunbeamed. "Bun-bun" is a darling tale about the rabbit-in-residence of a notorious underground Cleveland venue. Hohenfeld sighs and fondly recalls their late furry rock-loving comrade. "Bun-bun is...was a rock 'n' roll bunny who lived at the Tower. She was a loose bunny who ran around but was house-trained, and litter box-trained."

"She probably died of smoke inhalation or something," Dechristafaro adds.

Dechristafaro and Hohenfeld didn't take things to the next level until a push from a friend in October 2006.

"Dave P of the Very Knees booked us a show before we even had a band and was like "You're playing,' so we threw a band together overnight," says Dechristafaro.

Drawn from a cast of friends and bandmates, the Afternoon Naps grew to include drummer Ben Gmetro (The Dreadful Yawns, The Volta Sound), bassist Mike Allan (The Dreadful Yawns, The Volta Sound), trumpeter Steph (Expecting Rain) and NYC talent Gus Payne on organ, percussion and beach balls.

The Afternoon Naps morphed from a duo into a mini-orchestra overnight, and its sound evolved with it. After a few months of playing out at venues like the Happy Dog and the Beachland Tavern, the Naps were studio-bound. "We started recording on Super Bowl Sunday - Tim Gehrak of Six Parts Seven started recording it and then found he was going on tour with Richard Buckner, so we sat on it until May. It was literally done on the coldest day of the year."

Since then, the band has performed with many of its musical mentors - Voxtrot, Of Montreal and Ladybug Transistor, and at the Toledo Indie Pop Fest with Cleveland bands like Bears and the Helper

T-Cells.

September 21 is the official end of summer, and to commemorate it, the Beachland Tavern is hosting "An Afternoon with the Afternoon Naps," a launch party for Sunbeamed. The album is full of breezy harmonies. Topics of the songs range from shoeboxes full of postcards to stray cats, and the occasional dose of something less than optimistic. From "Winter Olympics" to "Argyle Spring," the Naps carry you from season to season. But how do the summer-centric Naps fare in colder climes? Dechristafaro slumps his shoulders.

"I don't know how I'm gonna feel about winter," he says.

"I know how you're gonna feel about winter," Hohenfeld chuckles to herself and replies. "You're gonna wear argyle ascots and turtleneck sweaters."
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we -heart- emily.