Three Imaginary Girls

Seattle's Indie-Pop Press – Music Reviews, Film Reviews, and Big Fun

{The Moondoggies}

My love for the Moondoggies is rooted in an accident, by way of KEXP: it was the one-two punch tracks that made it onto my radar a while back of “Save My Soul” > “Changing” that got me onto their brand of junk. And I say ‘accident’ there because I wasn’t seeking out any new alt.beardrock, and while I loved those songs, I wasn’t aching in the soles of my workboots for more Moondoggies music as a result of that listen. But inherent in those songs was some kind of catch, something that couldn’t be denied — it seemed like no matter how many times I heard that combo, I just couldn’t get sick of it. The lines translated, every single time. The music lifted me up and sat me gently back down in my seat, every single time. And just as that started to fade out, my recent obsession with the video for “Empress of the North” — so lovingly illustrated by Drew Christie — faded in, coupled with the pinch of fame generated by Lynn Shelton’s $5 Cover. And all of a sudden, this band was taking up a legitimate percentage of my bandwidth.

Suffice it to say, the Moondoggies are what’s good, and I’m hooked. Their presence on the scene is increasing these days, and with good cause — they’ve got an earnest brand of indie.Northwest.lumbercore going, varying in sounds-like influences from The Band to Band of Horses depending on the track, the weather, and the day of the week. And everything I hear makes me pay more attention, every new track makes me want to listen to one more, and everything they’ve done lately takes them one step further from separating themselves from the Great Beard Movement of the last few years.

It’s quite an accomplishment to transcend a pigeonholed state like lumbercore / beard rock, and these guys have done it. They’re taking everything that’s good about that kind of sound and pulling it across the land of post-hippie jam bands, closer to the other side of that wide road into a more genre-less territory — where things are still all heartache-y-breaky but lean a little more toward anthematic, and bands like the Avett Brothers hold seat at the top of the hill. Case in point, the Moondoggies have released a track off the new album Tidelands, that’s been on heavy rotation since the end of last week at our imaginary desks. It’s called “What Took So Long” and you can go ‘n get your repeat on over at the band’s Soundcloud page here.

With impeccable timing on this momentum they’re generating that seems to be feeding onto itself, the Moondoggies are heading out on the road to tour cross-country:

01.18.11 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent #
01.20.11 – Tucson, AZ – Solar Culture
01.22.11 – Austin, TX – Lambert’s #
01.23.11 – Dallas, TX – Club Dada #
01.24.11 – Memphis, TN – Hi-Tone Cafe #
01.26.11 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl #
01.27.11 – Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506
01.28.11 – Arlington, VA – IOTA Club & Cafe
01.29.11 – Philadelphia, PA – M Room
01.30.11 – Brooklyn, NY – The Rock Shop #
01.31.11 – Cambridge, MA – TT The Bear’s Place #
02.01.11 – New London, CT – The Oasis
02.02.11 – Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern
02.03.11 – Pontiac, MI – The Pike Room at The Crofoot #
02.04.11 – Chicago, IL – Hideout #
02.05.11 – Minneapolis, MN – 400 Bar #
02.12.11 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir #
^ – w/ Polecat
# – w/ Quiet Life

With cities like that on the list, it’ll be hard for friends in other parts of the country to come up with any kind of an excuse to miss the show — in fact, with the impeccable sound and stature of a venue like the Doug Fir, we might just have to organize a lil’ road trip down to Portland for the show on February 12th…

Safe travels, gents. We’ll see you back in town on the Valentine!

{Photo courtesy of the Moondoggies’ MySpace page.}