Remember that viral BMX video from 2010 starring Danny MacAskill biking from Edinburgh to Skye while doing really cool tricks? Well the really beautiful song from that video is called “Wax & Wire,” and its from a really beautiful band by the name of Loch Lomond.
Loch Lomond (the band, not the actual loch, mind you) was first birthed from the brain of Ritchie Young in 2003 as a solo project. Over the next ten years and merely 4 studio albums, the Portland, OR chamber pop indie folk band has created a lasting legacy in the city’s music scene with over 75 members having contributed to the act at some point or another.
Although many bands might say that they “suffered” through a lineup change, lineup changes are part of what fueled the ensemble music that Young has such a penchant for. The new faces each contribute new sounds and ideas, creating a constantly evolving musical entity that both influences others while influencing itself.
While Loch Lomond stays intensely Portland-ic, the group is anything but local, especially after years of touring in both the United States and throughout Europe. The band has also garnered the attention of studio wizards everywhere, including Adam Selzer, Tucker Martine, Kevin Robinson, Tony Lash, and Jeff Stuart Saltzman in their 2011 masterpiece Little Me Will Start a Storm.
In the band’s upcoming new record, Pens From Spain, the band goes back to drum machines and synths after a decade of nonuse. But the Loch Lomond has always been about reinventing itself, so hopefully it won’t be dropping the ball in this upcoming release. Additionally, the multilayered acoustic arrangements along with Young’s sometimes-falsetto-sometimes-baritone voice that brought the band to prominence in the first place are still there, so you don’t have to worry about that.
The album will be coming out on September 2, but in the mean time, here’s the album cover and its tracklist, along with Loch Lomond’s upcoming tour dates.
* w/ Case, Lang and Veirs
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