LAKE

Pacific Northwest and Los Angeles-based group LAKE has been an indie rock institution since their formation in 2005, bringing endlessly curious musical exploration to their distinctive brand of soft rock.


Today, the trio of multi-instrumentalists Ashley Eriksson, Eli Moore, and Andrew Dorsett continue a singular path with their most recent LP Roundelay on Seattle label OFF TEMPO, adding Balkan and British folk rock influences, odd time signatures, and an adult contemporary aesthetic to their already singular sound: whispered lead vocals, gentle romanticism and sly funk.


It was fellow Northwest recording artist Karl Blau (now Philadelphia-based) who became the band's first producer
and champion through his subscription-based underground music series KELP. In 2010, the band found a wider audience when Eriksson contributed "Island Song (Come Along With Me)" to the end credits of hit Cartoon Network show Adventure Time. In their now almost 20-year-long career, they have released a series of consistently classic albums, including four LPs on seminal Olympia-based label K Records.


Eriksson and Moore have always written songs from a sophisticated pop perspective. Conspicuously idiosyncratic, the "LAKE sound" has slipped through a handful of genre designations even as it has evolved from early influences, ranging from avant-garde and indie-pop to "experimental pop" and "elevator punk" (an invented genre based on a joke from a friend of the band.) Their influences, crossing continents and generations, include Prefab Sprout, the Blue Nile, Fleetwood Mac, Yo La Tengo, REM, and The Beach Boys.

“The songwriting has never been less than wonderful, the singing never less than honest, and the albums never less than worthy of adding to collections," wrote AlIMusic's Tim Sendra.


“They are one of the easiest [bands] to embrace because of their warmth, openness, and tenderness."


Their 10th album, Bucolic Gone, is slated for release in 2024.