Sailing Away.

Grab An Exclusive Download Of The Venetian Sailors' “Dazed Daydream.”

The recently updated website of The Venetian Sailors states: “Rebirth through ashes and fire has made the unit more expressive, creative and tighter than ever.”

Well, then.

But has the group, which is lead by 26-year-old guitar wiz Robbie Saunders, even been around long enough or done enough to require such a clear demarcation or mission statement about supposed new beginnings? Maybe not. But, based on the three new tunes that autoplay when one loads the band's web page, we'd argue the distinction is absolutely deserved.

By the time he turned 23, Saunders had already made a name for himself in the town thanks to his work in local blues and classic rock outfits such as Austin Brown Sounds and Tweed EQ. And though his songwriting wasn't always lauded as the most original, his chops were enough to earn him a reputation as, hands down, one of the top five players in the region.

He followed that with stints leading a formerly minimalist folk-based version of The Venetian Sailors, playing sideman in an early incarnation of electro-pop outfit Zhora, and, taking a page out of his uncle Jack Saunders' book, releasing his first solo EP, the honky-tonk heavy Flipside of a Coin.

Despite his relatively young age, Saunders has experienced a number of different roles within the various bands he's performed with and tried his hand at a number of different genres along the way. He's also proven that, if it's got strings, he can damn well play it.

But as for that rebirth scenario? Well, yeah, it's justified: This 2.0 version of The Venetian Sailors is rife with an almost unfair amount of talent. Backing Saunders now is multi-instrumentalist Berklee School of Music graduate Nigel Newton (who takes care of vibraphone, organ and other keys-related duties), bassist Emsy Robinson (of The Travoltas and The Danny Church Band) and drummer Matt Trimble (of long-popular area Beatles tribute outfit Hard Night's Day). King Bucks drummer Chris Carmichael produced and contributed drummed the the recorded versions of the new tracks, too.

And, though it's hard to tell from the mix of indie-pop, Americana and folk rock heard on those cuts exactly where this newly reborn outfit is headed, it's safe to say that The Venetian Sailors do indeed appear to be on the rise.

Many thanks, then, to The Venetian Sailors for offering a new cut called “Dazed Daydream” up to Central Track readers as an exclusive, free download on our site. Grab it off the Soundcloud embed below, then make plans to catch this increasingly impressive live local outfit when it performs at the Double Wide this Friday.

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Cover photo via Venetian Sailors' Facebook page.