hey folks! for those of you that have turned up at our recent shows, thanks; but, since i doubt anyone reading this was there, you missed a couple of really good shows. the show at cafe acoustic this past saturday was one of our best yet. we were really surprised to walk into the place and see that it was close to being packed. by the time we went on, it was full. the atmosphere was also great. we had a few issues with feedback durning the set, and at very inopportune moments, but all-in-all, it went nicely. i don’t think we’ll end up putting any of it up on the net, but you never know.

we also played with Steel Wool Mill for the first time, which went very well. good group of guys. it looks like we’ll be playing with them more often. in fact, we played a small st. patrick’s day event at La Dolce Vita restaurant in st. joseph. that was all kind of strange and the conditions under which we ended up playing were less than optimal, but it happens.

we’ll be playing Hazel’s Coffee House at the end of april. not sure if we’ll look for something in-between then and now or not. at the moment, we’re going to take a few weeks to let someone work some kinks out of our guitars, as they are in need of adjustment and repair. we hope to play several more shows before the summer, so if you’re in the area, keep your ears open.

later.

hey peeps. not sure if i already mentioned it, but our last-minute gig at cafe acoustic on feb. 2nd went well. thanks to zale beldsoe (aka For the Sound) for inviting us to play. we also had the opportunity to take the stage with zale again this past tuesday in omaha, ne. we played for all of about 10 people, but it was still a pretty good show. i think we both gave pretty solid performances.

we're going to be playing at cafe acoustic again march 15th. we're very grateful to lisa and beth at cafe acoustic for letting us book there so easily. i guess it's the closest thing to a home base we have.

we recently put up a track we recorded during the feb. 2nd show at the cafe. it's our song Ficus and it's an extended version. there are a few mistakes and the quality of the recording isn't quite perfect, but it's pretty good all-in-all. please have a listen if you haven't yet, and let us know what you think. thanks to all of you who are listening to our tracks. we appreciate the support.

we played a short-notice gig tonight that went pretty well. crowd was good and we only lost the plot once. all in all, i can live with that. Zale Bledsoe (aka For the Sound) asked us to come help fill out the night. i think we got a pretty good recording of Ficus that only has one or two somewhat minor mistakes. i'll probably put it up.

we were really trying (or at least it was a personal goal of mine) to get a good recording of an unrecorded tune, Sun Soon Sighs, which is about 7.5-8 min long. it was right at a tempo change that the plot was lost. dave about managed to salvage everything, but i was thrown way off and couldn't get on the right page. so we picked up and the next spot and took off. so it was like having two separate tunes of a solid 3-4 min, but the song will be realeased at the moment in two parts, if i put it up at all. we're playing in Omaha, NE on the 12th of feb., so i will attempt to do it again, it the owners of this place will let me. if not, we'll head to cafe acoustic sometime for the sole purpose of recording a decent version of it. they are very good to us.

and now that i've mentioned it, we're going to Omaha, NE on the 12th for another show with Zale. we've very greatful to him for asking us to tag along. as i mentioned, i'm hopeful to catch some good takes there. start looking out for new live material.

So, who is Kellen Perry? That's a good question. We also didn't know wh he was until he was kind enough to review our song Ficus. At this point all I can tell you is that he writes very interesting reviews (that statement is based on reading his other reviews, I promise!), wears glasses, and writes a music review blog. The latter was a bit redundant, I know, since it's already pretty obvious. Well, enough jibber jabber, and onto the review.

You can access the full bolg entry (and it might help since he makes references to earlier portions of the entry when reviewing us) or you can just read the portion about us:

"St. Joseph, MO's mainly instrumental Sylvan Lane sound a little like American Football and a lot like Owen (Mike Kinsella's current project). In "Ficus," Brandon Bone and David Hawk sing something about fissures and wakes and pressure, and it's all vague and pretty and it really works, breaking up the twinkly monotony. It's almost overwhelmingly tasteful, but, like Kinsella's projects and a lot of the Jim O'Rourke-influenced post-rock stuff coming out of Chicago in the past decade or so, it's tempered with this genuine melancholy that keeps it from sounding like the score to some Pilates workout video." - Kellen Perry, TWPOT, Oct. '07

After reading the entry, we felt in necessary to let Kellen know what the lyrics of Ficus are about. And for those of you who don't know, and that's probably all of you, they are about plate tectonics. It's a somewhat unusual and elusive way to talk about it, but that's what we're singing about. When we wrote to kellen and told him what the song's about, he had this to say:

"Honestly, you guys could just recite the names of Negro League outfielders over and over and it'd be lovely."

Many thanks to kellen for the nice review and I encourage everyone to stop by and read his reviews. All of them! You just might find some new music to enjoy.