From a Flagpole Magazine article by Garrett Martin:

No longer just lies told by old people, Folklore is now also a band, and a very fine one, indeed. And it's not just a band, but also a project, and a collaborative one, at that. Yes, many talented individuals contribute to the musical wonder that is Folklore, the latest local indie-rock supergroup, including such peerless personages as C'est Mortel's David Specht, Wee Turtles ringleader Jon Croxton, and Ian Rickert of Fairmount Fair and Bugs Eat Books (and who also works at Flagpole). Only one man, though, calls the shots, and that man is Jimmy Hughes, the friendly gadabout and jack-of-all-trades responsible for such notable musical endeavors as Boys' Star Library, Fairmount Fair, and some of those guitar parts you hear on newer Elf Power songs. When Hughes tells former Master of the Hemisphere Bren Mead what notes to sing, Mead asks how high.

Folklore isn't just a band name, though; it's a raison d'être. Much like famed wordsmith Washington Irving, Hughes, a native of Syracuse, NY, aims to craft new folk tales out of various upstate New York occurrences and idiosyncrasies. Irving became the first American author to be taken seriously in Europe, in part by focusing on folk legends from this region. Hopefully, Hughes will also find such fame, even though the future and the Internet have made folklore as antiquated and useless as letter-writing and journalism. Still, Jimmy Hughes hopes to resuscitate those days when primitive man made up stories to justify his fear of shadows, thunder and uppity cattle.

Folklore's first album The Ghost of H. W. Beaverman is a self-released collection of mellow psych-pop gems that utilizes various narrators and points of view to craft an ever-shifting picture of the title character. It's both a work of fiction, a project of personal folklore and a great, ramshackle pop record that resembles the softer side of Roky Erickson. It's also the rare concept record that doesn't let the story overwhelm the songwriting."

Band members:

Folklore is Jimmy Hughes, Jon Croxton, Aaron Jollay, Ian Rickert, Raoul De La Cruz, Che-Na Stephens, David Specht, and Philip Brown.

 

Press.

Optical Atlas review

Flagpole Magazine interview and review

 

MP3s.

Download: "H.W. Beaverman" (from The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman LP)

Download: "The Carpenter" (from Carpenter's Falls EP)

 

Pictures.

Hi-res color photo.

 

Shows

Coming soon.

 

Links.

Myspace.

Website.

 

(all logos by Ian Darken)

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