Washington D.C:
Le Loup
CITY: Washington, DC
SONGS THAT GOT US: “Le Loup,” “Planes Like Vultures”
ON THE TUBES: MySpace, Web site
RECORD LABEL: Hardly ArtWHY THEM? A seven-piece collective that sounds like it has twice as many members, Le Loup weaves what it refers to on its Web site, rather understatedly, as a “sonic tapestry.” That’s one way to describe these swelling and receding song cycles about Dante’s Inferno that appear to be played by coy wood nymphs with T-Rex and Arcade Fire in their iPods. Call their approach a kitchen sync: they toss in banjos, French horns, vibes, handclaps, and multiple vocal overdubs in tracks that often start out deceptively simple but build to ethereal, complex climaxes.
BONUS BIT! Band founder Sam Simkoff found the other six members of Le Loup through ads he placed on Craigslist.