War Jacket

War Jacket is a southern gothic three-piece from Birmingham, Alabama. Founded by baritone ukulelist Caleb Chancey in 2010, the band has evolved through its early music, from a stripped-down, solo EP to soulful incantations with cellist Lori Cheng and electric guitar player Joel Madison Blount. The trio’s communal sound taps into the sense of place you get in such a city as Birmingham – a haunted past, fatigued and tattering, a steely movement from day to day – but War Jacket’s songs don’t buckle under the black-blue themes. They are warm, tender, and resonant, nostalgic battle cries that balance out the somber. And if there’s a collective longing in War Jacket’s textured music, it’s undoubtedly for home. “When I was a kid, I’d crawl into bed at night, and I’d always wait for my dad to start playing his piano,” says Chancey. “For me music has always been a kind of a soundtrack for dreaming.” In April, 2013, the trio released the EP “Spring Hollow Sessions”, the single “Water Wings,” and their first official music video. Fans of Damien Jurado, Antony and the Johnsons, and Balmorhea, take notice. War Jacket is a southern gothic quartet from Birmingham, Alabama.