Little Me Will Start a Storm

Album review

Loch Lomond started out as more or less a one-man project based around the vision of singer/songwriter Ritchie Young, aided and abetted by the production skills of Rob Oberdorder, but over the course of four albums and a couple of EPs, it's grown into a full-fledged, even large, ensemble. The fourth Loch Lomond full-length release, Little Me Will Start a Storm, feels -- at least in part -- like a product of its environment. Like several other members of the Portland, OR music community -- specifically the Tucker Martine/Decemberists/Laura Veirs/Laura Gibson axis -- Young and company blend the scrappy, open-minded D.I.Y. aesthetic of indie pop with folk influences and arty, occasionally orchestral-sounding touches. Over the course of the album, Loch Lomond employs a wide range of dynamics; the spare, quirky "Egg Song," which bears a bit of an early Incredible String Band feel, employs only vocals and acoustic guitar, while "Water in Astoria" sounds like it contains the entire contents of a used-instrument store -- piano, woodwind, strings, bass harmonica, even a musical saw. Young's unconventional lyrical inclinations mesh nicely with the warm, organic, mostly acoustic feel of the arrangements, creating a craftily produced but endearingly off-kilter sound with echoes of bands like the Fruit Bats and Lost in the Trees. And though the band's first few outings have yet to earn them plaudits on the level of peers like Veirs or the Decemberists, they have toured with the latter, and it's certainly easy to imagine fans of Colin Meloy's quirky folk-pop finding an easy entry point into Little Me Will Start a Storm.
© J. Allen /TiVo