The Red Thread

Following the demise of indie rock band Half Film, singer Jason Lakis twanged up his tone a bit and formed San Francisco's Red Thread. Fusing wistful Americana with melancholy musings, the Red Thread's sound sits well between any Red House Painters album and that second Beachwood Sparks record, Once We Were Trees. Unlike many of their corn-fed contemporaries, the Red Thread's Lakis doesn't affect any nasal drawls to give his music its sweeping pastoral feel. Slowed tempos, hushed harmonies and long, weepy slide guitar compliment what often sounds like a young man inspired by both Ry Cooder's Boomer's Story and the very first Mojave 3 album.