Loch Lomond, Completions

Loch Lomond 
support: Completions (trio)

Konzertbeginn 19.30 Uhr
bei gutem Wetter vsl. Open Air

Eintritt im VVK und an der Abendkasse 10,--



Loch Lomond started as a solo recording project of Ritchie Young in 2003. With help of engineer/producer Rob Oberdorder, Ritchie crafted the first Loch Lomond album, When We Were Mountains (released on In Music We Trust Records). Over the next few years, Loch Lomond performed around Portland, OR and the Pacific Northwest in various incarnations. Live performances would range from Ritchie by himself to a nearly ten person band. During this time, many different recording sessions took place in various studios and homes. These recordings were eventually compiled on an EP called Lament For Children in early 2006. In the later half of 2006 Loch Lomond has solidified into a 9 person band, and the group is now busy rehearsing, writing and scheduling dates to record the second full-length Loch Lomond album, expected in early 2007. The group will be on the road between recording times, some shows utilizing the full line-up, and others as a condensed, but equally powerful version of the band.

Loch Lomond are an oddity of a band—in the best possible way. You never quite know what you’ll get. With a rotating cast that includes some of Portland’s most talented musicians, the band expands and contracts from an 8-piece ensemble to the single, riveting presence of founder Ritchie Young on stage. Usually found playing anywhere from intimate venues to festivals, each member often commands as many instruments as they have limbs while belting out haunting-yet-playful lyrics. Loch Lomond is not a band to be missed.

On the cusp of hitting the road with a stripped-down yet intensified version of the veteran group for their 12th European tour, the ever-evolving Portland, Oregon, US-based group has concocted a brand new split vinyl.

The new split vinyl is partially influenced by the hauntingly raw, experimental sound of the band’s 2022 LP, The Young, for which the band gathered on the Oregon coast to write and record songs in the quirky family house of a friend, one chock-full of history, including strict instructions to appease the resident ghosts with a nightly offering of whiskey. Now, the new songs take their creative roots from where they were written—in summer backyards, half-wild gardens, and a cozy trailer with chickens wandering around underfoot. The instrumentation is reflective of the folk beginnings of the group, with the foundation of guitar and piano lovingly rounded out by chime bells, cello, and more. Ritchie Young’s voice both coaxes and propels the songs forward with its powerful range and unique timbre, held by the unforgettable vocal harmonies for which the band is known. Sharing the split vinyl, fellow Portland band Completions will be touring with Loch Lomond in support of the new record.

Loch Lomond has enjoyed prominent placements like “Wax & Wire” in a Red Bull BMX video featuring Danny MacAskill, which went viral with 43 million streams and garnered the band worldwide attention. More recently the band was tapped to contribute four songs to the Academy Award-nominated soundtrack for stop motion masterpiece The Boxtrolls from Laika Studios. Notable tours include dates with The Vaselines, The Decemberists, Peter Broderick, and the supergroup Case, Lang, Viers. 

Having just celebrated their 20th anniversary as a band with 9 studio albums to date, Loch Lomond embodies the spirit of exploration and growth made possible by a long-term relationship centered on connection.

Loch Lomond bandleader Ritchie Young was admitted to the hospital to treat mysterious symptoms in 2020. A doctor told him he was the sickest person not to die in the hospital, and the brush with near-death made Ritchie want to explore writing music in a new way. Ultimately diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, Young was inspired to explore a less polished, more raw and experimental sound.

The band gathered on the Oregon coast and spent days writing and recording songs in the quirky family house of a friend, one chock-full of decades of history, including strict instructions to appease the resident ghosts with a nightly offering of whiskey. The songs came together quickly—lyrics arriving fully formed during a walk on the beach or entrancing chimes created by the band filling every mismatched glass in the cupboard and striking them with ballpoint pens. The raw recordings from the weekend were then shipped off to producer and musical-mad-scientist Dustin Hamman (Run On Sentence), who shepherded the record to its final form in his off-the-grid house in New Mexico. Hamman added layers of found sound, vocal arrangements, and reverb derived from playback in caves and tunnels in New Mexico.

Each iteration of Loch Lomond has taken the band in different directions, and this record is no exception. Whether gathered around a microphone singing as a group, figuring out how to play a harp moments before recording, or incorporating haunted looped tape of voices from decades past, The Young is an exercise in unfettered creativity and capturing a moment in time. In addition to Ritchie, the project features producer and guitarist Jesse Donaldson, keyboardists and vocalists Brooke Parrott and Julie Bosack, drummers Paul Seeley and Dillon Young, bassist Pete Bosack, and trumpeter John Whaley.

Loch Lomond is well established in the Portland music scene, but has never stopped evolving. After a decade of touring in the US and Europe and eight albums under their belt, the band’s latest adventure, an EP titled The Young, will be out on April 15th 2022.

The last few years has seen Loch Lomond’s introduction to new fans through prominent placements like “Wax & Wire” in a Red Bull BMX video featuring Danny MacAskill, which went viral with 43 million streams, and garnered the band attention from across the world. More recently the band was tapped to contribute four songs to the Academy Award-nominated soundtrack for stop motion masterpiece Boxtrolls from Laika Studios.

Elephants & Little Girls
https://youtu.be/Lb6Dsv1d9zc?si=nAE1VXtp6kYaw4U-

Your Eyes
https://youtu.be/K_5lt23PRVs?si=RcF8Ad38C6YYoX2k

Web
https://lochlomondband.tumblr.com/

Insta
https://www.instagram.com/lochlomondband/

Completions

Shawn Alpay’s pursuits have borne plenty of fruit. He's served as a cellist in many projects, including Father John Misty, Sleater-Kinney, Whitney, and How To Dress Well.  He worked as a producer and engineer at Tiny Telephone in San Francisco for many years.  And his solo project Completions released its first album I NEEDED HELP in 2022, roping in friends from Death Cab for Cutie, Beirut, and Laura Stevenson.  But the biggest and most unexpected turn to his journey landed earlier this year.

He became a dad.

Having an infant means having a lot of unexpected 2am pockets to pick up a guitar and reflect, resulting in some of the most prolific and forthright songwriting of Shawn's career.  "Your kid's existence somehow allows you to step outside yourself and more objectively describe your journey, and the choices, the pain, the joy, all of it," Alpay says.  "The shaping of Marlow gets me dwelling on how I was shaped, and how I want more for her than what I got.  These are universal parenting themes, I know -- but they then intersect with my precise story, and it's a thrill to see that exploration turn into songs and words that I know are worth sharing."

Alpay's lyrics have always leaned in a reflective direction, but there's a deeper sense of transparency and empathy in his latest efforts, which touch on the double-edged sword of emotional inheritance, the effect of burnout on a new marriage, and the mental health of dear friends.  And of course, there's a song about Marlow in there too.

Next summer, Completions will release a split 12" vinyl and tour Europe with his wife's project, Loch Lomond. They'll have their toddler daughter in tow, and she might even be old enough by then to sing along.

Transplanting
https://youtu.be/p8P9a3XfXsc?si=FX6GMVOY_jVtsbeg

Web
https://completionsmusic.com/

Insta
https://www.instagram.com/completionsmusic