This Is the River

Formed in two cities founded on the intrinsic turns and tails of one of Earth's longest waterways, Fair Oaks from Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota, has made an album that aims to shine a solar-hued spotlight on nature in the urban environment. Culled from the remnants of Minneapolis indie-folk-pop outfit, Andy Ulseth With Broken Bones, Fair Oaks takes the fuzzy bedroom-recorded dreamy earnestness of it's predecessor in a lush and energetic new direction. As a waning tributary lingers and dribbles over stone and mud and into larger, more fervent streams, so goes the way of Ulseth's song craft. Fair Oaks infuses their swirly folk songs with old-world charm and tweedy textures, that is akin to the historic, ivy-covered Minneapolis neighborhood from which they've taken their name. The group's debut full length quot;THIS IS THE RIVERquot; is bookended with a basket's worth of texturally and lyrically dense fuzzy pop songs that guard the album's centerpiece three-part titular track. Like spilt oil paints, quot;THIS IS THE RIVERquot; is a sprawling and polychromatic piece that at times gallops and at others whirs south along the banks of the Mighty Mississippi. Made up of singer-songwriter ANDY ULSETH (Andy Ulseth With Broken Bones), multi-instrumentalists ERIC CARLSON (Colder In Moscow) and MOLLY MANNING (Andy Ulseth With Broken Bones), as well as bassist MITCH SCHUMER (Lotus Easter, Spacexploders) and percussionist MATTHEW LEONARD (mondOmega) , Fair Oaks has crafted an enthralling and elegant debut release that will reward multiple listens.