GREAT ELK

Great Elk's music is both disturbing and comforting, like meeting someone for the first time and discovering they know everyone you've ever loved. Their sound is the result of years of collaboration between primary songwriter Paul Basile, a New York native, and guitarist Patrick Hay, a Virginia transplant. Basile’s visceral, world-weary vocals and the lonesome wails of Hay’s guitar coalesce into a sound that is sometimes soothing, sometimes clamorous, but always engaging. The band's self-titled, self-released debut EP, on sale June 22, 2010, at times recalls the sparse and haunting feel of Basile's solo record, 'Skeletons' (2006), which was written and recorded during his 4-year stint as a sled-dog handler in rural Alaska. But on this set of recordings, joined by Hay and a top-notch rhythm section featuring Adam Christgau (Jenny Owen Youngs, Gregory and The Hawk) on percussion and Jon Estes (Rosewood Thieves) on bass, the songs trade some of their intimacy for lush and powerful arrangements. Basile's gravelly vocals are driven to their natural edge and Great Elk is pushed away from its indie-folk roots into uncharted territory. Recorded with Ian Love (Animal House Studios) and Bryan Trenis (Vacation Island Studios) in Brooklyn, and at a 190-year-old farmhouse in Vermont, mixed by Trenis and mastered by Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering in Boston, the EP will be supported by touring in select regional markets, including Washington, D.C., Boston and Philadelphia.