Yaquina Bay, Happy Abandon, The Cabin Project
Yaquina Bay
www.yaquinabayband.com
Yaquina Bay is a six-piece orchestral indie rock band from Oregon.
Layering distorted keys and guitar, sweeping violins, and a thunderous rhythm section, the band sculpts a wall of sound praised for its intoxicating melodies and grandiose arrangements. Led by vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Chris Ward, Yaquina Bay speaks of heartbreak and joy, permanence and instability. It is a sound that is both nostalgic and fresh, familiar and new.
What began as a bedroom recording project has evolved into a powerful live touring act. Two full West Coast tours and countless performances in their home state of Oregon have secured Yaquina Bay as “the definition of a hard-working band” (Salem Weekly). It’s a description the band has strived to be affiliated with year after year, night after night, show after show.
Happy Abandon (Chapel Hill / Carrboro NC)
http://www.happyabandonmusic.com/
"As a dynamic first statement, 'Heavy Lines' makes a case that Happy Abandon could break through to the big stages its idols occupy"
- Spencer Griffith, Indy Week
"If I had to pick one North Carolina band that I think could have a breakout year in 2016, it would be Happy Abandon."
- James Willamor, Croquet Records
"With traces of Mumford & Sons and Noah and the Whale, the five tracks blend orchestral touches and shoegaze influences into an EP that builds sonic goodness with each note. The band unleash strong songs, ethereal vibes and well crafted musical lines that mark a super strong debut."
- Ric Gordon, Floorshime Zipper Boots + Russian Winter Records
The Cabin Project
http://www.thecabinproject.com
The Cabin Project is an orchestral indie pop band from the Portland whose sound stems from anthemic choruses, three-part harmonies, octave pedals, and string sections. The songs are musically expansive, yet retain an intimacy similar to that of The National, Bon Iver, Feist, and Warpaint.
Born in an attic studio lined with Douglas Fir, the band started as a project of Katie Sawicki, a former-folksinger from Brooklyn who became inspired by electric guitars, keys, synthesizers, and balancing all three onstage. After moving to the Pacific Northwest in 2008, Sawicki sought out musicians to collaborate with, leading her to musical partners Zanny Geffel, an orchestral drummer, rooted in jazz and percussion, with a preponderance for poetry and onstage mayhem and Rebekah Hanson, a PhD in viola recently turned onto delay and effects pedals, creating the band’s strings and bass section.
The Cabin Project released their second album, Heliotrope, this last October. The album came together after passing demos back and forth between coasts and collaborating with a variety of talented musicians from all over the country. The Cabin Project has worked hard to build the community of influences and collaborations that surround Heliotrope, and what results is a culminated sound that chimes earnest, reverent, and full of warmth. Their newest release, Sine, is an EP of songs taking the band’s indie rock sound to the next level. Currently, the band is recording their third full-length album, due to be released in Spring of 2016.
