The Olympia band was started by songwriter Nicolaas Zwart, and the music’s topography reflects his rolling memories and past.  His love for mid-century American literature chimes through the songs, John Updike and Thomas Ford swim through the music in a “really obscure way,” he says, “It’s there through the lyrics, the feeling through the movement.”  The panoramic fantasy of the real Desolation Wilderness that borders Lake Tahoe in California, near to Zwart’s childhood home, is reflected in the band’s ambience.  The topography of the band’s music lazily follows the geography of lakes and mountain vistas and meets Updike somewhere upstream in the retro haze wafting amid what Zwart calls his “punk-rock ethics.”  “It’s where the sound does not drive [the music],” he explains, “The morals and ethics do.” 

Desolation’s next full-length album is scheduled for release in August.  They’ve offered a tasty nibble to hold you off till then in the form of their advanced single No Tomorrow, just released last week.  You can also download gems streamed with cameo appearances of friends like Ashley Eriksson and Eli Moore of LAKE and Shelby Turner (now Desolation’s bass) of Sundance Kids from the archives of Daytrotter.

Molly is a freelance writer and a recent graduate of New St. Andrews College with an interest in postcards and goldfish.  She interned for The Loop 21 and keeps – sporadically – the blog A New Amsterdam.

The Kids is Turner’s post-college “self-improvement project,” started in 2005 by Turner + Girl.The band evolved into Turner’s baby as time passed and feelings changed. Derek (bass) and Erin (glockenspiel, drums, bass, vocals) came along after meeting Turner at Evergreen College in Olympia, WA, the Kids’ hometown.

Sundance Kids plays hybrid country because those are their roots; they’re hybrid because they quit country/folk for pop a couple of years back. They’re twee because, well, why not? “The original idea of the project was play really cute twee-country songs, the kind that would make people chuckle and giggle and say ‘awww!’,” Turner explains. Gradually the country advanced into twee with more pop-appeal.

Like in all good westerns, Sundance Kids is travelling westward; this is their 3rd tour of the northwest and they are thrilled to be back in Moscow. “There’s a Co-Op, the country is beautiful, the Palouse is just lovely,” says Turner; he continues: “We’re really excited to play with Yarn Owl, our friends from Pullman.”

Bring your sweetheart to hear Sundance Kids and Yarn Owl at the Nuart Theatre in downtown Moscow (516 S. Main Street) on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 2008, at 8:00 p.m., $5 at the door.  ~xox, molly miltenberger

Molly is a freelance journalist and a senior at New St. Andrew’s College with a special interest in music, postcards, and goldfish.  She is an intern at The Loop 21 and keeps the blog A New Amsterdam.