Future unknown, the model currently on display, Melville is the combined effort of a band in the making since 2011. That's when, newly returned stateside from a four year stint living in Berlin, songwriter and vocalist Ryan T. Jacobs first debuted Melville at Portland staple the LaurelThirst Pub. Since then, the band has performed many shows and had several highlights including having single Heart debuted at halftime of a sold out Portland Trailblazers game, playing at SXSW and sharing the stage with the likes of 3 Doors Down, Wilco side-project The Autumn Defense, Minor Alps, Murder by Death and Eric Earley (Blitzen Trapper) among others.

Founded on openness and a collaborative spirit, there's a tangible longevity to Melville that begs the band to explore and discover new layers to its sound.

Melville's introductory offering, Maquette, was recorded at Type Foundry Studios with Adam Selzer (M. Ward, Sallie Ford, Blind Pilot, The Decemberists, Peter Buck of R.E.M., She & Him) and mastered by Gus Elg at Sky Onion (Typhoon, Nurses, Horse Feathers, Blue Cranes), and has garnered radio play on Portland stations like KINK, KNRK and KZME. For now, Maquette is the base layer-but Melville will be charting a fresh course from here.

Melville are currently in the studio with Gregg Williams (The Dandy Warhols, Blitzen Trapper, Sheryl Crow, etc) working on the full-length follow-up to Maquette, entitled The New Zero.

Website:

http://melvilletheband.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/melvilletheband

Lowlight's music is rooted in the blues. Gospel, soul, rock, folk, country are ancestors of the same song, and it's a blues.

Lowlight is the monicker under which songwriter Nick Foltz performs. Foltz, a product of Kentucky, spent most of his life in the south, the region where so much of what is American music was born. While living in New York City in his early 20s and trying to figure out what to do with himself he started writing songs and busking in the NYC subways to make rent. After several months deciding to head to North Carolina to put together a band and see the country. This first band, The Delta Drift, was "where I learned what it really was to be in a band. How to perform live, how to really play with other musicians in a way that excited me. And how to travel with a band, like a van full of sleep-deprived pirates."

His travels eventually led him to Portland,OR and its fruitful music scene. In 2013 he began work on a new project, Lowlight. Lowlight started as a recording project.

"I had always wanted to go into the studio and make an album playing as many of the instruments as I could. It's probably hubris but also it's a way to stay mentally involved through the recording process and a way to develop songs and just have fun trying things. A way to keep things fresh. It can also be a humbling experience, like when I heard myself drumming. So I brought in a drummer, James Pearson, for a good chunk of the record."

With the release of After Sundown, Foltz has put together a band consisting of Pearson, guitarist Chris Viola, bassist Carmen Paradise and other Portland aces to bring his songs to life.

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Lowlight-819096431455986/

Website:

http://lowlightmusic.com/home