The sweet hereafter

Strangely enough, most Life in 24 Frames fans are video-game nerds who live far from Sacramento.

When the band dropped its sophomore album Bitter End in March, people downloaded it from Canada, Japan, Brazil and Bosnia, of all places. The band’s domestic mailing list features subscribers hailing from 48 out of 50 states.

That’s because Life in 24 Frames has fans in high places—at IGN, specifically. IGN is the go-to video-gamer website, and Life in 24 Frames provides an unofficial soundtrack for IGN podcasts. Millions listen every week.

“It’s weird,” admits frontman Kris Adams. “We’re a local band, but the majority of our fans can’t drive out to a show and see us play.”

Live webcasts are a future possibility to satisfy that global audience. But, as guitarist Richie Smith says, “Selfies will have to do for now.”

Adams founded Life in 24 Frames six years ago, but he’s the only one still standing. The band added members and instruments and evolved from ambient rock to something more lush and cinematic. Much of the band’s heavy turnover had to do with Adams’ desire for complex vocal harmonies—not every guitarist likes to sing.

The band finally hit its stride when Life in 24 Frames recorded Bitter End two years ago. Gorgeous, five-part harmonies became a reality.

“That’s when we took shape and became what I had envisioned,” Adams says. “I hope this is the family we keep for a long time.”

The family is an accomplished bunch, with Joe Strouth on drums, Jason Brown on bass, Lindsey Pavao on keys, and Adams and Smith on guitar. Geoffrey Knecht of indie pop band SunMonks is no longer in Life in 24 Frames, but he wrote Bitter End with Adams.

Meanwhile, Smith plays in a few local bands, including indie electronic-pop outfit Saint Solitaire. And Pavao is the Lindsey Pavao, semifinalist on season two of NBC’s hit competition show The Voice.

Pavao has been working on her own solo album for years—being a perfectionist takes time—and she jumped at the opportunity to join the band a couple months ago.

“It was really exciting to be part of something, to just be a contributor,” Pavao says.

All together, it’s a glorious fit. And Bitter End is a beautiful indie record, with gradual builds, hooks and story arcs. It’s thoughtful, mature. Adams is deservedly proud—he says Bitter End is the best thing he’s ever been a part of. So it was infuriating to negotiate with record labels for months and months. Eventually, the band decided to give the album away for free instead.

“Our motive behind making music has never been for fame or money,” Adams says. “We put a lot of heart and effort into this record, and this just felt right.”

Fans can download Bitter End—and the band’s debut Time Trails—for free on the band’s website with the code CTRL+Z. It can be also purchased via iTunes, if folks felt like donating a little cash. And now, it can also be preordered on vinyl; delivery is estimated for late July.

It’s not just band members who are passionate about vinyl. Strouth says fans and friends asked for it—and preorders are already coming in from as far as the United Kingdom.

“People wanted a physical copy,” Strouth says. “People didn’t just want it for free.”

Bitter End has been remastered. It has new album art. The band promises a completely new, potentially semireligious experience.

“Music is cheaper than therapy,” Adams says. “We hope it can help others like it has helped us.”