The Laughing Chimes

The moody Appalachian foothills of southeastern Ohio are a strange place to birth. The Laughing Chimes’ dark and dreamy jangle pop. Formed by brothers Evan and Quinn Seurkamp, the band blends the reverberations of early goth and ‘80s college rock shimmer through desolate abstract reconstructions of farmhouses and empty train tunnels. The group’s love of pop melody, paired with their intrigue in supernatural folklore and its lurkings inside the abandoned coal towns of their region, gives way to eerily nostalgic hooks and fables. Songwriter Evan Seurkamp explains, "Sometimes there's a haunting weight of decay you want to escape, but at the same time, there is some sort of strange romanticism surrounding ghost towns. We've tried to channel those moods into our sound."
Released by long-running indie label Slumberland Records, The Chimes’ second album, Whispers In The Speech Machine, presents this mysterious charm of Appalachian Ohio in the form of eight dreamily crafted songs. The tracks are littered with descriptions and references to local decaying and paranormally charged structures. Midwest ghost stories are reimagined to fit within the band’s concise pop tunes, providing echoes that are familiar yet novel.