I'm definitely overdue to give these Washington State nature-rockers a couple of nice words on their recent release Tiny Dots.
The seven song album is a mix of older and newer tunes. It's been just about a year since I first stumbled on their myspace page, so the new songs (Stay in Tune with the Moon, Without You...) are a lot tighter than some of the older cuts, like Rubix Cube. Mind you, a first time listener probably wouldn't get this out of it, but the combination of older, charming recordings and the new crisper ones definitely makes for a nice compilation.
All and all it's perfectly crafted pop in its simplest form.
[upop+] Interview I did with Yarn Owl here [official] myspace / website [mp3] Their label LNA said I could offer a few tracks off of "Tiny Dots". email me.
How does a band become of needlepoint and Tom Hanks?
Washington State's poppers Yarn Owl pull it all together.
How did you come up with your name? Yarn Owl was born from a piece of yarn art better known as needle painting. Javier Suarez, the lead singer, owned a nice collection of yarn art with his roommate one day, I, Ted Powers was sitting in his apartment and noticed a fine work featuring an owl. I thought oh what a nice name for a band “yarn owl”. That is how we arose with the name yarn owl, simply based on a needle painting.
Who or what has influenced you the most? Javier: The Beatles Tyler: Explosions in the Sky Tim: early indie rock, tom hanks Ted: built to spill, jazz, piano lessons
Tell us about your first show: Our first show wasn’t really a show. It was at a house party in a tiny living room. We were still young as a band and had only 20-30 min of material. We played a short set and people seemed to like it. Our first official show was after we recorded our first EP. It was at the Comet tavern in Seattle, which is a dive bar with a very historical presence in Seattle. We traveled 5 hours after pulling an all nighter finishing up our record to play the show. It was awesome and couldn’t have asked for a better public appearance. WE have a recording of the entire show too, courtesy of our good friend Chris Early.
What have the last 12 months been like? Crazy, we have released a cassette with Leftist Nautical Antiques called tiny dots. We did a mini tour with the Helio Sequence to Salt Lake City and Boise, opened for the Grand Archives, recorded a ton, and recently just finished up a 6 songs which we are shopping out to labels. The new recording is not yet determined to be released but is titled “stay warm.” The first track off the EP is on myspace titled Bicycle. We recorded this with Chris Early in Seattle and got is mastered by Ed Brooks who works at studio litho which is owned by Pearl Jam. Ed worked on the fleet foxes recrods too!!
We are busy with work and going to college too, but this all has been super exciting. We hope the next 12 months can be just as fruitful.
Musically, what would like to achieve in the upcoming year? I would love to see us get married to a label we all enjoy to release our music to a larger audience. This would involve working with a producer and releasing our records on vinyl. In terms of musically, we all want to get better and become well versed in more instruments. We have recently started adding in a pianet, glockenspiel, and some other odds and ends.
Who would you like to play with, living or dead? The Beatles
Any last words? Thanks for finding us, it was so nice to find someone out of the blue listen and like us. We hope that you like the new recordings and stay in touch.
I love this myspace band Yarn Owl. They're an indie gig from Washington state, with some really nice & quiet poppy folk tunes. (Enough adjectives for you? ☺) Great songs to listen to when you're working, writing or feeling deep/insightful. Actually, good for almost anything.
The song titles and melodies recall the romantic simplicities of 60s music...a kind of Beatles appeal. Straight to the point. Nothing incredibly cryptic in terms of lyrics either, I really like their writing style. ( e.g. You, you are like a Rubik's Cube/Born in the 80s/and I can't figure out how you move) It's very refreshing from the typical song's lyrics that are either exceedingly personal or just plain weird.
I'm definitely overdue to give these Washington State nature-rockers a couple of nice words on their recent release Tiny Dots.
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