Noble Lake, Wye Oak Side Project

Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack have a side project, Noble Lake, they are working on with Baltimore native James Saarsgard. The music is pretty different than Wye Oak, although if you take the folky moments from If Children you might hear a little of that in Noble Lake. These are mellow, banjo and guitar driven songs that have a floating quality to them, filled with introspection and a dark but serene undercurrent that you might find in a lonely traveller. Before I use too many adjectives, I'll just give you the rundown from the press release which sums up the band pretty well.

The group's sound recalls the dusty, string band dirge of Depression era American folk and country acts like the Carter Family and Doc Boggs as well as the bleak lyricism and bright harmonies of Richard and Linda Thompson. Firm devotees to the narrative song, Noble Lake builds a frame upon tales of itinerant travelers, drunks and self destructive lovers, environmental disaster and a shrinking world and uses it as a launching point for tightly wound acoustic tapestries that range from high lonesome, straightforward folk to ragged, pulsating drones that bring to mind the sonic terrain mined by the Dirty Three, Jack Rose and the like.

The band's debut LP, Heyday, will be releases May 7th on Creative Capitalism. They will perform at the Floristree Space on May 14th, and a summer tour is in the works.

Noble Lake "The Gallery"
Noble Lake "Morgantown"