SC Interviews: Yarn Owl + Song Premier ‘Bicycle’

• Tweet

Yarn Owl has been at the top of the SC playlist for a while now and we’ve had the awesome opportunity to have a chat with the guys. I’m pleased to share this conversation around the coop! We’ve been gabbing about these folks for a bit now and are delighted to bring a brand spanking new YO track, Bicycle, from their new tape ‘Stay Warm’. YO is a great departure from the 1-minute knock-off bands that are clogging the air waves these days; their offerings are really a breath of fresh air in the sometimes-stale indie music scene. The music can be likened to other organic pop-indie rockers (Band of Horses, The Shins, Fleet Foxes) but YO’s music surely stands on its own two feet. You can pick up their uber limited debut ‘Tiny Dots’ on cassette tape here. You’ll have to hurry though, there are only a couple left.

mp3 – Yarn Owl – Bicycle
mp3 – Yarn Owl – Yarn Blues
mp3 – Yarn Owl – With Out You
mp3 – Yarn Owl – Stay In Tune With The Moon

Seizure Chicken: Yarn Owl has been around for been around for about a year. Can you walk us through, what I imagine has to be, a pretty exciting time for you guys?

Yarn Owl: We started playing together in the fall of ’07, so it’s been about two years that we’ve been a band now…it is an exciting time…the shows around here just keep getting better and better as more people come out and support the musical happenings that our little region is blessed with. Yarn Owl has also seen heaps of support from the college radio station here, KZUU 90.7…Our bass player, Tim is actually the General Manager, I (Javier) was the music director for two years and Ted and Tyler were both Djs. That, along with Stereopathic music (stereopathicmusic.com), which is a music blog/booking/management type of group that started last year, has just created a really fresh community of bands forming and making the Palouse area a worthwhile stopping point for touring acts.

SC: You guys have been building a pretty large fan base in a short matter of time. What do you think of your reception? How has it been? Why do you think people have been so receptive?

YO: Yarn bracelets. We always bring this huge tangle of yarn to our shows and encourage people be a yarn friend and make themselves a yarn bracelet. People love free yarn. They also seem to enjoy our music which is really all we want….and we really just feel thankful and totally delighted that our sound is something that is appreciated these days.

SC: YO has recently announced the future release ‘Stay Warm’. Can you tell us a little bit about the new tape?

YO: ‘Stay Warm’ was recorded over a weekend in Seattle in a warehouse down the street from the Mariners stadium Safeco field. It was recorded and mixed by Chris Early, who was Tim’s band mate when they were playing in Band of Horses, it was mastered by our favorite masterer, Ed Brooks, who did Fleet Foxes last year and Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band. It’s six songs, with a few re-recorded older ones…it has lots of reverb….we’re still figuring out how it going to be released, whether we want to do another cassette release or if we want to do some vinyl, etc…the title ‘Stay Warm’ comes from my Portland pen-pal, that was her advice in the first letter she wrote me and i thought it was just…something so simple but very important that everybody really ought to do.

SC: You record to tape, why do you guys prefer that medium?

YO: Yes..we have our two Eps, Tape 1 and Tape 2 (which were recorded on an 8-track  cassette machine and  originally released on CD), and the songs on ‘Tiny Dots’ (which was released on Cassette, and whose songs are a compilation of Tape 1 and 2). We just think it conveys the songs in a way that works well with our music. Thematically, it is very fitting with our style of jangly, Beatles type folk pop, i guess it kind of gives it a distance and charm that you might  come across in an antique store or in an old National Geographic or something. We just like the past because you have to actively reach out to get it…whereas with the the future, it  is coming either way. also, using this passe medium is just novel and fun…it gives people a reason to go down to the thrift store and pick up an ole sony walkman…the tape does come with a digital download for the ipod savvy kids…it is an absolutely beautiful object i might add. Leftist Nautical Antiques did some great packaging is releasing some fun new stuff.

SC: I’ve read some articles lumping your music into the northwest indie-folk-esque movement (Fleet Foxes, Band Of Horses, My Morning Jacket, The Shins, etc) siting you as deriving influence from the Beatles and 60-70′s pop sensibilities. What are some of your other influences?

YO: Some big ones in the band are the album RAM and McCartney I by Paul mcCartney (post-beatle, pre-wings stage), Solo George Harrison- this one applies to me(Javier). Ted has a big jazz influence because he plays it every Thursday at this bar downtown with a combo and has been for years. Tyler is influenced a lot by more mellow, ambient sounds like Explosions in the Sky, Mono…Tim is a big Cocteau Twins and REM fan. We are so all over the place though and many times one of us will just be obsessed with one particular thing for like a week and write a song around that…sometimes this is very apparent, and sometimes it comes out so totally different then what we were going for originally, but i guess that’s where the magic is, the resulting just sound comes from the interpretation and we like to leave it open and not define what we are too much, it kind of defines itself i guess.

SC: What are some current bands/artists you guys have listening to lately?

SC: Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Lake, Le Loup, Fruit Bats, Beach House, Cotton Jones, Final Spins, Girls, Grizzly Bear, Peter Broderick, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, …

SC: What did you guys do for Halloween? Did you guys dress up?

YO: We had a surprise b-day party for tyler at his place…we hid in his garage and when he came home we flung the garage door open and accidentally misaligned it. He has only mildly surprised and mostly just concerned about the broken door.  I, (javier) was Frank Butler, Tim was a character he calls “Ski Lodge Steve” (holiday sweater, scarf, egg nog, etc.), Tyler was a 70s hiker, and Ted was the transformer Optimus Prime. We wandered around from party to party. I got kicked out of a bar, Tim had a run in with the cops, and Ted puked up free pizza. I think we’re gonna have Halloween: part 2 this weekend.

SC: What’s up next for YO? Plans for touring?

YO: We are looking touring, most likey something bigger in the summer…still up in the air. Mostly just making new songs right now and playing around the northwest. Some kind of music video is being discussed as well, and that may be during the winter break. Hopefully release stay warm with a friendly label.