Kevin Bronson on January 8th, 2013

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Songwriter Jack Burnside has been laying relatively low since the popgazing quartet Mezzanine Owls went away, but now his creative juices are flowing again and Western Lows are his new outlet. The trio, which includes Michael Orendy on bass and Julien Bellin on drums, metes out hazy-but-not-lazy sonics commingled with Burnside’s contemplative lyrics. As with the MezzOwls material, Burnside’s musical reveries were recorded in Athens, Ga., with Andy LeMaster, the Now It’s Overhead main man who has worked in the studio or performed with the likes of Bright Eyes/Conor Oberst, Azure Ray, Maria Taylor and, recently, L.A.-based Whispertown. The results – a full-length album is due to be out this spring – can be alternately buoyant and melancholic, but no matter which strings Western Lows are pulling, sorting out the imagery in their fuzzy tapestries is its own reward.

||| Stream: “Last Known Rivers”

||| Also: Stream two more of their songs via Bandcamp.

||| Live: Western Lows plays Jan. 18 at the Echo.

Photo by Paley Fairman