LOWLAND HUM
Daniel and Lauren Goans combined their lives when they wed in 2012. They combined their voices and creative habits when they established their distinct sound and formed the band Lowland Hum in 2013. Flash forward eight years and they are making more music than ever, still in their own language of unexampled harmonies and distilled acoustic arrangements. The two lived the intervening years primarily on the highway, performing across the United States & Europe, sharing stages with Josh Ritter, Jesca Hoop, Penny and Sparrow The Oh Hellos and others along the way. Self-producing five full length albums and four eps, the prolific duo has garnered ongoing critical acclaim for their minimalist brand of indie folk from NPR, the Washington Post, American Songwriter, Paste, Billboard, No Depression, and the Wall Street Journal. As Robin Hilton of All Songs Considered (NPR) put it, “if you love sublimely beautiful two-part harmonies, you’re not going to do better than this band.”
In 2019 Lowland Hum launched Golden Hour, an immersive listening experience, with co-collaborators David Wax and Suz Slezak of the band David Wax Museum. The experience was featured on World Cafe in early 2020 and while they've had to put their tour plans on hold, the team is eager to resume performances when it is safe to do so.
After all tours and events were canceled due to coronavirus, the pair spent 2020 at their rural homestead outside Charlottesville, Virginia, making the most of their recently finished barn-turned-recording studio. After writing and recording multiple projects their work was abruptly halted when a tornado visited their area and rendered the studio unusable. A long drawn out battle ensued with their insurance company which finally ended in their favor when fans of the band tweeted at State Farm, urging them to do right by their customers. The studio was eventually restored––just in time for them to welcome their first child into the world right before the year's end. Two months later Lowland Hum jumped back into their studio to embark on an ambitious journey reimagining Peter Gabriel's acclaimed album, So, in its entirety. The band released So Low on May 19, 2021, the 35th anniversary of the release of So. The band's seventh studio album, At Home, is out now, accompanied by three Bond Richards-directed music videos.
MOST INFLUENTIAL ALBUM
Ram | Paul & Linda McCartney
Paul McCartney's songwriting always reminds us of several things: you can write a song about anything, don't be afraid of blending sincere and silly, and sometimes a feeling or vibe is more important than the "completeness" of an idea. We love the soaring melodies and freewheeling energy of Ram. This album has held us together on many a tiring tour, and it has accompanied us during many long hours of working outdoors on the land where we live. It will always be one of our very favorites. The cherry on top is that it is a collaboration between two people making a life together.