The Sixth Great Lake – Up The Country

Not tiptoeing into their first year lightly, new reissue label Dust and Memory has already packed the months between December and February with vital reissues. The label launched with reissues of The Essex Green’s long out of print Everything Is Green and, The Lore Of Mysticore, a lost gem from Minneapolis’ Magic Castles. They follow up quickly with 25th anniversary editions of The Tyde’s beloved first album and the debut from The Sixth Great Lake. While the former might ring bells for its ties to Further and The Summer Hits, the latter may well have escaped your grasp despite a growing cult fanbase. The Sixth Great Lake features core members of The Essex Green, with ties to fellow psych-pop outfits Guppyboy and The Ladybug Transistor.

The band’s debut came just shortly after a split with The Essex Green, an introduction via the short-lived Vermont label Sudden Shame. The record snuck out quietly amongst the greats on Kindercore in 2001. While the band shares quite a few characteristics with their sibling band, they tend to take a more sun-faded approach. The group offers an opportunity to embrace the jangles and indie pop aura, but they turn down the twee impulses that fed into The Essex Green’s work. The Sixth Great Lake lightly loops the seams between folk, indie pop, and a grassy canyon country. Flutes flutter under easy strums, the band harmonizes in hammock-swung tempos. Tension isn’t an element in The Sixth Great Lake. Quite the contrary, there are few albums from the era that offer such a lived-in charms. This one should find appeal to both E6 wagon-circlers and Beachwood Sparks fans alike. The 25th Anniversary shines a much needed light on one that might have gotten away. Don’t let it escape twice.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE.