This time we will make our first appearance in Olympia, WA and we will also be playing on the greatest NW radio station of all KEXP. You can tune in on Saturday May 21st at 8pm to www.kexp.org to listen to us perform live.  A brief interview will be conducted during the shows too! It should be a dandy.

We hope to see ya in PDX, Oly, or Seattle.

Here is the complete list of upcoming shows.

May         19th   The Woods Portland, OR        8pm with Future Historians  and Yeah Great Fine

May         20th  The Northern Olympia, WA       7:30pm

May         21st     KEXP Audioasis Seattle, WA          8pm Listen live HERE

May          27th  Columbia City Theater Seattle, WA          8pm with Chapter and Young Lions

June        20th    The Belltower w/Starfucker Pullman, WA        8pm with Rhythmmemory and STRFKR

July         16th   John’s Alley w/The Moondoggies Moscow, ID       9:30pm with Camp Wisdom and Takhoma

July         22nd     Capitol Hill Block Party Seattle, WA          6:30pm with tons of great bands!

At first glance, the name “Yarn Owl” brings to mind several things, “strung out” and “loose” perhaps. However, that is the exact opposite of what you’ll find on the debut full-length album from this Pacific Northwest four-piece.

If you’re at all familiar with their early efforts “Tiny Dots” and “Stay Warm”, then you know about half of what to expect from Yarn Owl’s latest release “Montana Y Caballo.” The core of their charming sound is still present, but this time the music sounds more whole. The songs are full of conviction.

The album begins with an aptly named opener, “Go.” It starts out with a mandolin, ushers in a driving bass line, and echoing vocals delivered by Javier Suarez. Soaring into “Dark Air”, the album starts to mature, drop its roots, and deliver some true tenacity. It’s easy to get lost in this album, imagining the songs becoming a scene right off of the album cover. A lush, green mountainside with an overcoat of thin, pillowy clouds creeping overhead.

Coming out of the Pacific Northwest region of Pullman, WA, the band has been influenced by many different forces. The beautiful scenery, a growing indie-music scene including bands like Fleet Foxes, Death Cab for Cutie, and Band of Horses (of which bassist Tim Meinig was formerly a drummer for.) While they may share a similar musical heritage, they are all distinct in their own way. Yarn Owl may be the underdog out of the four bands mentioned, but they are making quite a name for themselves, having shared the stage with bands like Local Natives, Fruit Bats, Ted Leo, and they’ll be playing in July with alt-country up and comers, Moondoggies.

Having had the chance to speak with drummer Ted Powers, we found out a little more about the band’s early days, some of their influences, recording their latest album in an odd place, and where they hope to be in the future. Here’s what we asked:

1. It’s mentioned on the band’s Facebook page that the member met through a Pullman, WA college-radio station, KZUU 90.7. Were any of the band members deejays at the time?

In fact all of us were deejays at KZUU at one point. Tim Meinig was the General Manager of the station and Javier Suarez was the Music Director when Yarn Owl formed. KZUU had a large impact on how we all crossed paths and is the reason why Yarn Owl came to fruition.

None of us are technically classically trained. Ted is a jazz musician who took 10 years of classical piano. He usually impacts the songs with the addition of jangly percussion, other instruments, and keys.

Yarn Owl is touring the around Washington, Idaho and Oregon. Some highlighted dates include a live in studio at KEXP and Seattle’s Capitol Hill Block Party. Hopefully in the fall a full national tour will ensue.  Key stops would be the east coast biggies like Boston, New York and DC and west coast giants like LA, San Francisco, and even Canada.

Montana Y Caballo’s inspiration can largely be tied to our surroundings. We live in a rural town in eastern Washington and this has a heavy impact on our music. We tour through mountain passes and see lush wilderness in the Northwest all the time, so it was only fitting to name the album “Montana Y Caballo”.  Our lyrics reflect this as well with descriptive passages about scenery and the northwest lifestyle. We also were able to record the album in 1900’s barn in rural Idaho which helped us stay focused on the albums over arching themes. We hope it paints a nice picture in everyone’s head.

Overall I would have to say positive. It hasn’t been a huge factor in our success as we have diverted from that band. That was a while ago when Tim was in Band of Horses so it is merely in the background now.

It was an awe inspiring experience to record in such a raw space. We were able to track all of the instruments in November during a weekend with Chris Early.  Chris used to be in Band of Horses with Tim and offered to help us out mixing and recording the record. The only problem with the barn recordings was it got super cold. On day 2 of recording, playing guitar and drum parts became increasingly difficult as our fingers started to freeze. We brought in space heaters but they didn’t really help.  Hopefully this “chill” is not apparent in our final outcome on the record! We were able to warm up in the barns milk room during breaks and manage to complete live tracking in the barn in only 2 days.  There were some incredible highlights too, including a barn cat that would sing nice loud cat purrs and visited us frequently. It was nice to be away from the traditional setting of high pressure studios and get back to playing in a great huge space to make a record without any pressure. I wouldn’t trade it for any other situation.

The creative process for yarn owl usually comes from some simple idea that progresses over time. We play out jam or a riff and see where it takes us. It is usually formed by one persons ideas becoming a collective song and forming into something we all can appreciate. Making music to us means having a good time, hopefully this is translated to the end listener. Also providing something that someone else can relate to and enjoy is always a priority.

Locally we enjoy the regional act fleet foxes, which is pretty hard to ignore. Other bands we love include the fruit bats, joseph giant, LAKE, and buffalo death beam. We also enjoy instrumental music and the Beatles are the highest ranking band for Javier. He grew up playing all of those songs with his dad and still does to this day.

Yarn Owl will be playing a pair of dates in Idaho and Washington this July, 7/16 in Moscow, ID  and 7/22 in Seattle.

For more information about the band, and to stream the album “Montana Y Caballo”, visit yarnowl.bandcamp.com

http://northofnashville.net/2011/05/16/in-review-yarn-owl-montana-y-caballo/