Olympia-based lo-fi singer-songwriter kingpin-musician person-type thing - Phil Elvrum is looking slightly nervy and awkward. He’s plugging his fender strat and adjusting his pedal settings, prepping for the gig to begin in an odd venue. I had never visited The Dome before tonight and you half expect a wedding entourage to burst through the doors for a night to drunkenly dance the night away to Wet Wet Wet and Bryan Adams. It’s true. But it contains a charming non-conventional element, especially for London, which lends itself to Phil’s Mount Eerie tonight for a night of electric aural goodness. Continue Reading

Finding information about The Capstan Shafts on the internet is, well, downright challenging. We know this: The Capstan Shafts is the moniker under which Dean Wells records and releases his music. He hails from Lyndonville, Vermont and has performed live just a handful of times. Insanely prolific, Wells has released somewhere around 24 EPs and full-lengths since 2004, sometimes on his own Ladder The Xmas Monkey label, other times on various tiny indie labels. His tunes are notoriously short in length - often clocking in at under a minute, rarely over two, and his lo-fi approach has earned him countless comparisons to Robert Pollard, John Darnielle and Jeff Mangum. Continue Reading