biographical info
Siskiyou is the new group led by former Great Lake Swimmers member Colin
Huebert in collaboration with Erik Arnesen (who still plays with the
Swimmers). The group is based in Vancouver, Canada where Huebert has
recently settled after a stint working on an organic farm following his
departure from the Swimmers.
Huebert channeled the songs
on the eponymous debut with immediacy and austerity, recording dozens of tunes at home with
only voice and guitar, generally within minutes of their conception, as
an exercise in unmediated documentation. From this audio sketchbook,
Huebert and Arnesen began building gently ornate arrangements on top of
various tunes, recording overdubs in itinerant fashion in hallways,
stairwells, bathrooms and parks throughout the Vancouver area. Banjo,
piano, accordion and electric guitar play the lead roles in adorning
Colin’s initial acoustic guitar sketches. The resulting collection of
songs thrums with a scrupulous lo-fi backwoods energy and restraint. The
music has been described as perfectly conjuring the lush, crisp yet
often chilly landscape of the Pacific Northwest, and we tend to agree.