Premiere: Olin & the Moon, ‘Gonna Make You Mine’

Kevin Bronson on
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Just because you’re not an overnight sensation doesn’t mean you can’t be sensational. So it is with Olin & the Moon, the quintet that has scrapped, scrambled and scraped by in the four years since brothers David and Travis LaBrel and Marshall Vore moved to Los Angeles from Idaho and hooked up with Brian McGinnis and Kyle Vicioso in search of the perfect folk song.

The band’s new album, “Footsteps” (out today), is the stuff of spilled emotions and swilled beer, and while that’s hardly a left turn from 2009’s “Terrible Town,” Olin & the Moon have proved again you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to keep things rolling. From the rambunctious churn of “Repeat” to the boy-girl charm of “Escape” to the simple chord progression of “Gonna Make You Mine,” “Footsteps” admittedly doesn’t take many chances. Then again, there aren’t many missteps.

The album, which features contributions from Kenneth Pattengale and Leslie Stevens of Leslie Stevens and the Badgers, was recorded in fits and starts and late-night sessions in the studio where frontman David LaBrel works. His aching tenor is again the centerpiece of the fivesome’s arrangements, honed after a year that included plenty of touring. The material itself? “There are a lot of songs about girls,” LaBrel says, smiling. “I seem to keep going back to that.”

||| Live: Olin & the Moon celebrate their new album with a Tuesday night residency this month at the Echo. Tonight they are joined by Coyol and Paulie Pesh.

Photo by Alana Morshead