In Music We Trust Records
Loch Lomond - When We Were Mountains
Tracks
1. Stripe [mp3]
2. The Mountain
3. Sir Edmund [mp3]
4. Canadian Shield
5. Whatafall [mp3]
6. Sourire
7. He's Never Seen the Ocean
8. Del Fuego
9. Salt the Air
10. This Year of Our Lord

When We Were Mountains

Loch Lomond
When We Were Mountains

Buy this CD at cdbaby.com Something I instantly understand but don't know why; a touched nerve deep behind rationality _ genetic memory perhaps. I totally get it, but why?

Loch Lomond's Old World themes shine through the modern settings, like a weird foreign coin in the collection plate. But these cryptic descriptions are all a lot of crap.

Loch Lomond is a three-piece, sometimes sextet, riddled with strings, samples and beaming lyrical imagery. Put your trust in singer Ritchie Young and he'll guide you through all sorts of wonders and horrors, tugging loose lost memories, shaking them in the wind. Guitars and violins, cellos and tambourines, wonderful accordions, concertinas, Ritchie's bald-faced lyrics, somewhere in my head all this, now shamelessly invoked, the whole of it. And Kate and Rob, like the heart of a storm, he with his metronomic clacks and she like some rain goddess gushing down wind and water...

All hail Portlandia!

Loch Lomond is:
Ritchie S. Young: vocals, guitars, mandolin
Kate O'Brien: violin, cello, vocals
Rob Oberdorfer: Drums, percussions, samples

with guest appearances/help by:
Jay Clarke: keys, accordions, bass
Katie Schnepp: viola

Loch Lomond's old bio:

Little did Ritchie Young know that when he went to record some demos with his friend Rob Oberdorfer (The Standard) that he was embarking on a year-long collaborative process which would end with a full length record for Loch Lomond (When We Were Mountains, In Music We Trust). Each song on When We Were Mountains evolved in it's own unique way through unorthodox production techniques. Several of the songs were built from the sonic scraps of older ones where parts were removed from their original context to create something entirely different. Ritchie and Rob crafted this postmodern patchwork into a sound all their own, held together by the unique melodic and lyrical timbre which flows through the tracks.

While piecing together Ritchie's textured sounds and arcane musical vision, Rob O. quickly moved out from behind the mixing board to play and write along with Ritchie. Soon after, Ritchie met Kate O�Brien (Iretsu) and asked her to record violin and vocals on a few songs. She ended up as a large part of the sonic landscape of the whole album. Ryan Cross (Iretsu) joined the group after the recording with his multi-instrumentalist talents to support the ever-changing assortment of instruments required for live performances (concertina, guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals). Loch Lomond emerged from being a duo in the basement to a full-fledged band with three shows booked before they had their first practice.

The energy of the foursome was recognized immediately. Over the next several months Ritchie, Rob, Kate, and Ryan, with the aid of samplers and an array of instruments, brought the album to life on stage. The sweeping melodies in When We Were Mountains pull from a year of lucky chances and tough decisions to make intimate bedfellows with grief and the darker side of love stories. The haunting fusion of Loch Lomond�s organic and electronic with stuttered and sweeping instrumentation behind Ritchie�s pure vocals will continue with another recording due Fall 2004.

Loch Lomond's official website: http://www.lochlomondmusic.com.

Loch Lomond has a split 12" (with friends Hurtbird) for sale. Check it out at http://www.highkarate.com.

Visit Loch Lomond member Rob Oberdorfer's other band, The Standard, at http://www.thestandardsite.com.