Throughout independent music history, people have marveled at the power a small town like Olympia, Washington, home to stalwart K Records, has wielded. The city of less than 50,000 people helped propel independent label music into the American consciousness and can take credit for helping to establish and support other labels and scenes such as Seattle’s Sub Pop and the punk scene in Washington D.C. circa 1980. However, perhaps even more impressive is the much smaller town of Anacortes, an hour and a half north of Seattle on Fidalgo Island. Anacortes is home to Beat Happening founding member Bret Lunsford and celebrated musician Phil Elverum of Microphones and Mount Eerie. The city also houses a independent record store that has begun distributing massive quantities of music, steadily becoming an integral part of the distro system.
Why is this all important? Anacortes is also where Cumulus recorded their new album and is home to The Lonely Forest. And for me, this warrants immediate exploration of their music. After listening to a few songs on Cumulus’ Bandcamp page, I was easily convinced, and made plans to attend their show last week. The Lonely Forest has run with the Olympia and Anacortes musical cohorts less, but the band being signed to Death Cab for Cutie guitarist Chris Walla’s label Trans gives the band credibility.
The bill managed to bring out a reasonable crowd for a rainy Tuesday night in Austin, and those in attendance were treated to an outstanding show of upbeat indie pop with glittering guitar work and quirky vocal dexterity. Cumulus has outstanding stage presence as they deliver one pop gem after another. Much of the time, the band feels like a more electrified version of Heavenly or the Softies or perhaps a Pacific Northwestern answer to Camera Obscura, but the quartet does have some more atmospheric songs. When frontwoman Alex Niedzialkowski thanks the crowd, you believe her. This trait isn’t limited to bands from the Northwest, but it seems to abound there. A certain grounded sincerity defines the demeanor of many performers from the Northwest, there’s an absence of posturing. The long history of strong self-awareness and identity can be found in the music and personalities of Cumulus.
The Lonely Forest headlines the night with a similar brand of music, though their pop is even more upbeat and embraces mainstream sensibilities; the band has experienced commercial success with their songs being used on television shows. However, frontman John Van Deusen is far from self-important or unapproachable. During Cumulus’ set, Van Deusen climbs onto the stage to enthusiastically help sing back up near the end of the band’s set. And later in the night before kicking off a song, he says to a fan near the front with whom he must have spoken earlier in the night, “This song is for you, because I know you like country. It’s the closest thing we have.” The surprised girl behind me doesn’t appear to have any special relationship with the band as indicated by the look of surprise on her face. Van Deusen stomps around the stage and belts out lyrics with conviction.
In light of these two strong offerings of live performances, it’s easy to say that fans of indie pop who missed this show should repent and mark their calendars for the return of either of these solid bands. If you’re lucky enough to live out on the West Coast in L.A. or San Francisco the bands play November 5th and 6th before heading back up to their native haunts of Portland and Seattle. See these bands.
All photos below © Bryan Parker & Pop Press International. Click any image to open in slideshow viewer.
