SONG OF THE DAY

“Own Stunts” by Breathe Owl Breathe (Magic Central, Hometapes Records, 2010).

FROM AMAZON.COM

“In a Lincoln Log cabin in deep rural Michigan live and work Micah Middaugh, Trevor Hobbs, and AndrÃ©a Moreno-Beals. This is Breathe Owl Breathe. A printmaker, a geomorphologist, and a native of Colombia, respectively, the trio transformed their ancient home into a four-season sonic and visual workshop. Through the snow and the sun (and the bugs), Breathe Owl Breathe created Magic Central (the name they also gave their cabin). It’s a pop album like no other, a timeless aural cartogram of feeling, soul, skill, and story. You could have found it in the attic. It could have dropped from space.”

PASTE MAGAZINE’S Best Of What’s Next PICK FOR JULY 15TH, 2010

Hometown: East Jordan, Mich.
Album: Magic Central
Band Members: Micah Middaugh (guitar, vocals), AndrÃ©a Moreno-Beals (cello, vocals), Trevor Hobbs (percussion, keys, vocals)
For Fans Of: Bowerbirds, Smog, Shel Silverstein

Until she turned 18, AndrÃ©a Moreno-Bealsâ€™ life revolved around classical celloâ€”private lessons, hours of practice. But in 2004, six weeks into her studies at Oberlin College, she met Micah Middaugh at a Dairy Queen in Northern Michigan and decided their chance meeting was more inspiring than a life spent reading sheet music. So she dropped out, sequestering herself with Middaugh and now-bandmate Trevor Hobbs in what they call â€œmagic central,â€ the small log cabin in the Michigan woods where they live and play.

There, by the heat of a wood stove, they became Breathe Owl Breathe and honed their soundâ€”a wild rumpus of harmony and rhythmâ€”and named their debut after its birthplace. While some peers have reveled in reinvigorating the old, weird side of Americana, the bandâ€™s flare for pop-addled melodies flips the contemporary folk aesthetic, eschewing freakiness in favor of charm. Itâ€™s a dynamic built on coupling clever arrangements with lyrical whimsy.

On Magic Central (out Sept. 28 on Hometapes), shadows tint the sunshine, a frailty that plays out with oblique narratives and ghostly vocals. â€œWe kind of like the haunted vibe with the fun playhouse vibe,â€ Micah explains. â€œ[â€¦] A lot of people just notice the fun part and I think a lot of it comes from that darker place where things can go.â€ – by Ashley Melzer

FROM LAST.FM

“How did we carve to this? I guess we whittled from the inside out at first, trying to cultivate and cata-pult these small songs over the castle wall. With instruments, levers, wires, and the sturdy encouraging hands of friends, we formed the band / art project, Breathe Owl Breathe.

Before the band came together, we were all in different places working on different things. I wasÂ studying printmaking, Andrea was giving cello lessons, and Trevor was reading and making maps. When I first met Andrea we played music all day outside under a shady tree. Later that same day, we made a recording of short story songs inside a small messy room with drawings on the wall. The day I met Trevor, we played music inside a dorm room and later made a movie about zombies. The recording was a think piece; the movie was a romantic comedy; and we were friends forever (at least).

The name Breathe Owl Breathe came from a dream I had. There was an owl that was cutting its way through the cold, still night. Whoever was in charge of the cinematography of the dream my hatÊ¼s off to them. It was from the perspective of just above a field mouse scurrying through blades of grass. The mouse then found a little divot in the ground, laid down on its back, and gave its last breath. The breath rose up into the sky, passing by the owlÊ¼s beak. The owl gave a breath, turned its head, and decided to fly away. Suspended in the air, I watched the owl weave its way out of sight, flapping three flaps on one wing before switching to the other wing to do the same. I had never seen a bird fly that way. I woke up and wrote â€œBreathe Owl Breatheâ€ on the windowsill with a ballpoint pen, then fell back to sleep. The pen was out of ink, so the writing (I discovered the next morning) was more of an indentation of the words into wood. I called Andrea up, she wrote down Breathe Owl Breathe, the dream came back, and we had ourselves a name.

Our first show came a week later. I was doing some day work in Grand Rapids, MI pounding nailsÂ up on a rooftop, when my friend came running down the street yelling, â€œYouÊ¼re opening up for Little Wings!â€ It was meant to be an art show as well, of drawings by Kyle Field (a.k.a. Little
Wings). Unfortunately, his art did not arrive by mail in time. So instead, Kyle drew on the walls of the venue with markers as the night unfolded, listening while he drew. This show meant a lot to us.

Andrea and I played together for two years, writing, singing, bowing banjos, and stitching albums together before Trevor jumped on. Trying to put our hands in the work, with original woodcuts, silkscreens, and drawings on each album was important to us. Once, we even drew with crayons on the labels of our CDÊ¼s â€” little did we know it caused peopleÊ¼s boom boxes to smell like burning, melting wax. IÊ¼m proud to say we have learned from our mistakes.

Four years later we find ourselves sharing our third full length album â€œGhost Glacierâ€, with plans to release it on vinyl in 2009. Carving our way through landscapes, we will be touring in the summer and fall. We look forward to seeing you on the way, stay warm and inspired. ” – Micah, January 2009

– Micah Middaugh, scribbles songs, plays guitar, banjo, thimb piano, and plastic toys.

– Andrea Moreno-Beals, a gifted classical cellist from the Rudolf Steiner school; part Bach, part Bossa Nova, part Bluegrass. Andrea lends an ethereal voice to her cello and banjo.

– Trevor Hobbes, is a geologist drummer, currently residing in Lansing, Michigan. His steady beats and brushes add to the bandâ€™s repertoire of violins, vibraphones, glockenspiels, and percussions.