FOLKLORE

AGENT: JIMMY

AVAILABILITY: FALL 2011 / UPCOMING SHOWS

TOOLS: MAKE AN OFFER / PROMO MATERIALS / PUBLICITY

BAND SITES: OFFICIAL BAND WEBSITE / FACEBOOK PAGE

LABEL: SGMG RECORDS (US) / INDIECATER RECORDS (IRELAND)

FREE MP3: The Party

HOMETOWN: Philadelphia, PA / Athens, GA

DISCOGRAPHY:

2011 - HOME CHRUCH ROAD CD / LP

2008 - CARPENTER'S FALLS CD

2007 - THE GHOST OF H.W. BEAVERMAN CD

BIO:

A mini-orchestra of players performing live in the split hometowns of Athens GA / Philadelphia PA, lead by common member Jimmy Hughes, Folklore offered two concept albums consecutively in 2007 and 2008. The new one, titled Home Church Road, tells an epic story of the Earth after human extinction.

Starting in 2005 as an outlet to write fiction, a live band then formed around the stories and the Athens band was born: Jon Croxton (drums), Aaron Jollay (bass/trombone), Ian Rickert (bass/clarinet/harmonica), Che-Na Stephens (clarinet), Raoul De La Cruz (trumpet), and David Specht (oscillator, violin, bells). This band released two albums: The Ghost Of H.W. Beaverman (2007) and Carpenter’s Falls (2008). Read more...

In 2009, Hughes relocated to Philadelphia, where he managed to find eight people who wanted to continue playing as Folklore. So what would have most likely faded into a lost bedroom project is now a stronger than ever live band in Philadelphia: Jason Henn (drums), Chad Arnett (guitar), Scott Churchman (bass), Avalon Clare (clarinet), Yianni Kourmadas (bass clarinet), Cheryl Nguyen (violin), Andrew Keller (viola), and Jordan Burgis (guitar).

The new album, Home Church Road, features both the Athens and the Philadelphia players (though the Philly players are the ones who tour).  Musically, it is a landscape that does not commit to one immediate style, but rather, it is orchestrated in whichever direction best suits the narrative, the end result weaving tender somber moments with raunchy punk rock guitars and noise elements.

Folklore has had a productive couple of years, playing multiple tours of the East Coast and the Midwest, played Athens Popfest 2005 and 2007 as well as Sweden’s Emmaboda Festival in 2008, and have shared bills with Elf Power, Vic Chesnutt, Still Flyin’, Summer Hymns, The Lucksmiths, The Ladybug Transistor, Circulatory System, The Spinto Band, Benjy Ferree, The Gerbils, and more.
 

REVIEWS:

There’s still something admittedly inviting about the lo-fi production values and strummy folk-rock that are Hughes’ stock-in-trade here... merging electronic burbles and effects-treated vocals with blistering amplifier feedback and the clarion tones of a clarinet.  This balanced composite of the unwieldy and the understated works in spades for Hughes, allowing even the most cynical of listeners – yours truly included – to take in the alternately utopian and dystopian backstory without any drudgery... Dig beneath the surface past the stories of Loki and animals of future Earth, and you’ll find an album that offers just as many fetching melodies and taut grooves as more mainstream fare.

- Delusions Of Adequacy

Home Church Road is so varied that it sounds like a indie-film soundtrack.  Each track bravely charges ahead without fear of connecting to a rewind or fast forward button.  The songs live in the present, flowing from chilly meandering experiments to folky melodies to electro-glitch to hook-laden rock anthems. The collection reminds me it takes more than just good intentions to craft cathartic challenges to traditional indie-rock conventions... It just makes the deadline for inclusion on my list of favorite albums released in the first half of 2011!

- Three Imaginary Girls

(Carpenter's Falls is) a lush, epic album with storylines, plots and climaxes. With pronounced experimental and folk influences, the aptly-named band is more akin to the dense psychedelia of Olivia Tremor Control than the indie pop of Elf Power.
-Philadelphia Weekly

The yarns that (Hughes) spins are reminiscent of those that a babbling old man at the end of his days would produce.
-Daytrotter

The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman is united by Hughes’ surprising strength as both a songwriter and as a storyteller.

-Optical Atlas

Folklore’s debut is a lovely opaque work that should appear on all serious Best of 2008 lists… a totally satisfying blend of imagination, truth, myth, personal history, bullshit, nostalgia, experiment and philosophy.

-PopMatters

Folklore, a new project from Elf Power guitarist Jimmy Hughes with quite an intriguing premise… Sample tune H.W. Beaverman ain't too shabby, packing enough melody into its layers and vocal cataracts to make it worth a download.
-Pitchfork

On last year's The Ghost Of H.W. Beaverman and the new 'companion' LP, Carpenter's Falls, he tells his tales through multiple perspectives and with an otherworldly catchiness. Innocent and melodic as they sound, Hughes' vocals seem to circle up from woozy recollections, as does an instrumental blend that takes in everything from guitar to slide whistle to clarinet to trumpet. For such an esoteric concept, it's got a child-like sense of play.

-The Onion AV Club

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