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Grand Lake Islands

Good Mountain Records

Grand Lake Islands’ Song From Far out January 20, 2015 on Good Mountain Records.

Grand Lake Islands is a collective led by songwriter Erik Emanuelson. The project began in New York City as Emanuelson’s evening pastime while teaching English. The EP, “Wake of Waking” was recorded in the winter of 2012. As his songs grew increasingly stronger, he decided to leave his career and focus on music, moving across the country to Portland, Oregon. There he met collaborators Evan Krogh (Guitar/lap Steel), Kyle Hartlet (Bass), and Bob Reynolds (Drums).

Grand Lake Islands’ forthcoming LP, “Song From Far” was produced by Victor Nash at Destination Universe. It was recorded following a highly productive period of collaboration between Emanuelson, Reynolds, Hartelt and Krogh during Portland’s bleakest months. The songs reflect a period following a sea change that occurred in Emanuelson’s life. More than half the songs would emerge from two months of long nights in Emanuelson’s dank, unheated basement.

Emanuelson’s expressive tenor recalls Nashville Skyline era Dylan and delivers lyrics soaked with stark emotional landscapes. Themes of isolation and uncertainty are echoed In songs like “Silver Moon” where he sings, “emergency red, and outdated, with an ear to an unplugged phone, pacing around waiting for that old dial tone”. Yet other songs such as “Atlantic/Pacific” and “Monterey” evoke a kind of carefree lightness. Recorded mostly live, the album’s synchronized energy feel cohesive as it moves from extremes of ethereal texture and more straightforward folk-country grooves. The songs break into wide-open brightness with sparkling guitar, swelling lap steel, and snapping snare hits before being swallowed again by interludes of dark, aerial, nearly distorted tones. With one eye to the darkness drifting over the horizon and one eye on the light coming over the other, “Song From Far” is a snapshot of a sky in motion.