By Landon Christensen

Enterprise music critic

In our increasingly busy lives, it's difficult to just chill out.

Our jobs make afternoon siestas impossible, but at least we can relax on weekends. And relaxing — easing the strain of constant over-stimulation — becomes effortless with the gentle sounds of Needle.

The band will perform at 10 p.m. Friday at The G Street Pub, 228 G St., Davis, sharing the stage with Deluxe and Con of Man. The cover is $5, and entry is limited to those 21 and over; call 758-3154 for more information.

For a taste of what's in store, tune into KDVS 90.3 FM at 11 p.m. Thursday, when Needle will perform live in Studio A.

The San Francisco band features Julie Cornett (vocals, keyboards and guitar) and Steve Beck (guitar). The live show will include Kevin Boles (bass), Sheri Boles (cocktail drums) and Paul Pavelko (violin).

The music is refreshingly spare and minimal, and Beck elaborated on this sound during a recent e-mail chat.

"It's always been about being in a comfortable place," he said. "We'd chill out with some tea or red wine, and just get in the right mood."

Having a studio permitted this luxury.

"We never were under a timeline to get things finished. We wanted to keep things simple but not standard, so we used toys, analogue synthesizers and a cocktail drum kit ... plus whatever was around us."

Their style is reminiscent of "slowcore" bands such as Low and Red House Painters, mixed with the starry-eyed dream pop of Mazzy Star.

"We're big fans of those bands," Beck admitted. "You can hear Jesse Sykes or the Winterpills in our music. But we also feel that the environment is as much of an influence as the sounds we listen to."

Needle was formed when Beck answered an ad posted by Cornett on Craigslist.

"Actually, the origins go back further than that," Beck said. "Julie had been writing songs and recording some rough demos for awhile, while I was building a studio and looking for a female vocalist to add some melody to my recordings."

As luck would have it, the two connected.

"After exchanging a few e-mails, we met and listened to a bunch of stuff that each of us had been working on," Beck said. "We definitely were on the same page, so we recorded a few things. The first sessions went extremely well, and we just kept doing it."

They chose the name Needle as a "reference to warmth."

"A needle on a record," Beck offered, by way of example, "or needles used to create clothing, and needles used to deliver medications."

The name came with its own clever marketing idea.

"We had access to a promotional printing company and saw some pens years ago."

The pens look like small hypodermic needles with blue liquid inside.

"Once we came up with the name, we knew we had to use them. People seem to love 'em; if you pick up a CD, we'll include a free pen."

Needle's album, "Songs Your Mother Never Sang to You," has a lo-fi production and intimate feel. How does this translate in a live setting?

"We've put together a five-piece band to bring this on the road, and have pretty much kept the same instrumentation used on the CD."

The album's original songs are sandwiched around a cover of Neil Young's "Helpless."

"We wanted to do someone else's song on the album," Beck said, "and we were kicking around a few ideas. An opportunity to submit a song to a Neil Young tribute album came up, so we decided to try 'Helpless.' It fit well with the rest of the CD."

Needle recently was asked to submit a song to Esposus magazine, for a compilation CD in an upcoming issue.

"We're really honored," Beck said. "Others who've submitted in the past include Low, Dean Wareham and the Mountain Goats."

Needle's contribution is titled "Sunday on Prozac" ("probably a bit heavier than others on our CD, but not far away from our lo-fi style").

While Needle always is working on new material, the band is focused on touring, to support the album.

"We did a couple shows in the Bay Area late last year, to test the water," Beck said, "but technically this is our first tour."

Quietly beautiful with a simplicity that could lead listeners to an underestimation of the many elements of each song, Needle's Songs Your Mother Never Sang You is an album that conjures up the mood that hits only every once in awhile, and highlights everything with haunting but reassuring silver linings.

Made up of Julie Cornett and Steven Beck, with violin assistance from Christine Banks on several songs, Needle's duo has created a debut album filled with lullabies featuring Cornett's soft voice, the slightly roughened edges of distorted acoustic guitar, piano, and even a xylophone makes it's way into the songs.  Dreamy but comforting, the 10 songs of the album are each pieces of art that can stand alone but are better enjoyed together in a long sitting with a hot cup of tea in a late afternoon. To this well evolved album, Needle has also added a gorgeous and unique remake of Neil Young's "Helpless."

Unpretentious and elemental, Needle has mastered the delicate art of "just enough" and made an album that will be tough to beat, though listeners will be eager to hear them try.

by Jaymi Heimbuch - Girlistic Magazine

Needle are a male/female duo comprised of Julie Cornett and Steve Beck. They are still relatively under the radar. Actually, they are pretty far below the radar; believe it or not, this little gem isn't even signed yet. Their self-released album Songs Your Mother Never Sang You is folk rock minimalism in its ultimate state of glory. Needle is the poster child for making the "less is more" musical approach work well.

"Lo-fi" is how Needle chooses to describe themselves. Although that is fairly accurate, many people can allow low fidelity to get confused with low quality, and low quality is bad, whereas low fidelity can still be a good thing. Lo-fi is actually a moderately passed-by sub-genre of indie rock dating all the way back to the 1980s (yes, indie rock has been around that long). Originally, and still today, lo-fi bands purposely use recording techniques to give their music that "organic" sound (see: Pavement, Elliott Smith, etc.). I would hate to say that it's an underproduced album, so perhaps we can just settle upon saying that it is just barely produced enough. It still sounds clean, yet it has a charming hollowness that could only be given by the lack of a producer gone wild.

Julie Cornett's throat must be lined in suede because her voice comes out so smooth, but still thick and softly textured. Very reminiscent of Jen Charles of The Elysian Fields actually, but with its own distinctive hushed lullaby-like tone. That, combined with the almost vacant instrumental portion of this band, produces this relaxing noir folk music. Steve Beck's guitar is heavily aided by his distortion pedal on quite a few of the songs, adding a little bit of a shoegazeing ambience to the album.