Ann Arbor, MI – Gearing up to break out of the local buzz of their home suburbs of Detroit, Great Lakes Myth Society are readying for the release of their debut self-titled album on April 19, 2005 on indie label Stop, Pop, and Roll. With a record release party set for April 9th at Jacoby's (24 Brush St., Detroit) and a national tour in the works, they are primed and pumped to bring their shimmery brand of self-described "Northern Rock" to the masses.
Growing up in the Great Lakes region of the Midwest has really concocted legends within the minds of the five men of Great Lakes Myth Society. "We have the great fortune to live in a unique a strange region surrounded by five bodies of water that are a geographical anomaly," explains vocalist/guitarist Timothy Monger. "There are cruel winters, gales and sunken ships. There are vineyards, sand dunes and mountains. I challenge anyone to offer a more bewildering and mystical location."
Just as layered and thought-provoking, their music recalls the big, thick sounds of Big Star, Teenage Fanclub, and even Catherine Wheel. Almost Celtic in lilt but gauzy in texture, tracks like the soaring "Across the Bridge", the melodically meandering "Buffalo Nickel" and the Tim Finn-esque bombast of "No. VI" carry the listener through stories and tales, sprinkled liberally with local color and flavor of the Great Lakes region. An album that is as deep as the lakes themselves that lull and mesmerize, Great Lakes Myth Society is a record that evolves and grows, striking differing emotions, tickling different undersides, and uncovering different shades of personality, with different songs becoming favorite tracks at different times. "'Isabella County, 1992' just might be my favorite achievement on the album," beams Timothy. "It's a gorgeously built song." Vocalist/guitarist Gregory Dean McIntosh counters about his own favorite track, "The sweet brutality of ‘Seeds for Sale' definitely strikes me as an amazing track both as a complex melodic trap and as a sonic mirror of the frustration with an industry that seems to thrive more on discarding artistry for a quick buck."
Evolving from a pervious incarnation as The Original Brothers and Sisters of Love, Great Lakes Myth Society is already building a name for itself in the Midwest and on the internet. The seminal punk website, Pucknation, says, "It is not often that an album comes out that can strike a listener as truly original." While their hometown newspaper, Ann Arbor Paper, says, "The self-titled record is a triumph—wild and tender all at once, drunken swagger mixed with lilting melodies, rough and tumble as a downriver Detroit bar, and as aching and open as a northern lake in winter."
Self-produced and engineered, Great Lakes Myth Society, is a triumph in story-telling and melody, an album as musically captivating as its lyrics. Heady yet immediate, hypnotic yet instantly singable, this album is definitely one that will continue through the folklore and myth. Gregory sums it up best, "I hope the album finds a home with people who like complex pop music, but in a way, part of my goal has already been achieved: to make an album I'd like to own." |
