Altered Zones

While I was watching Quilt play down at SXSW a fortnight ago, AZ editor Emilie Friedlander leaned over to tell me that they had to be from Massachusetts. That Quilt's sound is so regionally distinctive says as much about their music as it does about any artist associated with, say, the LA "Beat Scene," or San Francisco garage. On "Cowboys in the Void", the dreamy, male/female three-part harmonies of Anna Rochinski, Shane Butler, and John Andrews curl around a central melody as fibrous guitar lines cascade over a slow, steady pulse. Their vocals are catchy, fragile, intricate-- like something you and your two best friends might practice beneath a secluded forest canopy.

"Cowboys In The Void" recalls the '60s/'70s throwback psych-folk of New Weird America bands like Espers, Sunburned Hand of the Man, and Feathers. When the pace gathers, and the guitar takes over from vocals, Dean Warhem's influence also looms large. And yet, despite influences or comparisons, Quilt have forged a captivating universe of psychedelica, dream-pop, and folk-- full of warmth, sure, but also a calmness and a peacefulness that leaves us longing for New England green. --Daniel Gottlieb, Altered Zones

MP3: Quilt: "Cowboys In The Void"

Hear more via Bandcamp. Quilt's Agents of Play 7" is out on Breakfast of Champs, and their debut Gome Home LP is in the works for release