The Key

Last week a CD-R of four songs by the Philly band Oldermost showed up on the front steps of The Key. Wrapped in a white piece of paper with the song titles scrawled on the cover, we were intrigued and gave the CD a spin. We were immediately impressed by the warm rock sounds of the band’s songs which musically sit in the continuum of My Morning Jacket, Bright Eyes, Band of Horses, and the new rock troubadours of today.

We reached out to the band to find out more about them and well…we’ll let one of the band members Bradford Bucknam tell the quick story:

Three of us went to college together at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA and played in an experimental folk rock band called Wild Animal Party that disbanded upon graduation.  We released a full length self-titled record that May of 2009 for the enjoyment of very few ears other than our own.  The original three, Bradford, Dan and Peter, decided to move to the big city, Philadelphia, that following Autumn to start a new band.  Around the holidays of that year we asked Stephen to join the band. Stephen was a childhood friend of Dan’s.  (They had played in a high school band together.)  Stephen was in two other bands at this time, but we courted him and stole him from the other groups.  We played minimally, mostly traveling back to Virginia to play.

Stephen recorded drum tracks for what would become our EP in April of 2010.  The next seven months we slowly recorded the rest of the EP in the basements of two Port Fishington homes, although there were times when very little recording happened because we were learning recording techniques on our own and trying to get a sound that had character, but that still didn’t sound too lo-fi, although I know the kids love that these days.  At this time we were performing as Elder Brother. A month ago we got a cease and desist letter from a band in North Carolina that has performed with the same name. “Elder Brother takes the sophisticated approach to adult contemporary music by incorporating jazz and funk rhythms in a variety of classic arrangements and original compositions.”)  Finding a name was very difficult mainly because we are serious about our music and its originality and because of the internet every band name we thought of was taken.  Oldermost seems to suggest a warm and mysterious sound that I think we are creating.  It leaves room for the music in an age where band names can be so silly that they can tend to distract.  This works for a lot of bands, but not for us.

Oldermost’s self-titled debut EP was recently released on Bandcamp. It was mixed by Bill Moriarty, who has produced records by Man Man and Dr. Dog and was mastered by Sam Cucumano, from the band Pile of Girls. Bandmates Bradford Bucknum, Steve Robbins, Peter Phillips and Dan Wolgemuth live in Fishtown. Yesterday our friends over at Philebrity posted the Oldermost song “Kensington” here. Today we offer you another tasty song, the flannel, wine and fireplace inspired “Lose Your Mind.”

• Lose Your Mindby Oldermost from the Oldermost EPDownload