Lakesigns

Lakesigns’ second full-length album, Husk, is the result of one year of intensive writing and recording in the band’s basement in Chicago, USA. After the band’s original drummer left in February 2012 having recorded drum tracks for Lakesigns’ newest songs, the four remaining members of the band decided to temporarily forgo the hustle of life as a live band and instead focus all their energies on crafting—doing justice to—this batch of songs. 

The conclusion is Husk, an eleven-song album representing a marked artistic step forward for the band. They have maintained their distinctive musical approach of layered rock filled out by saxophone, but every element is much tighter and focused than before. And above all Husk keeps the focus squarely on the song, with vocals loud, clear, and dry in the mix. 

With song titles like “Sadmaker” and “Darlin, Darlin, Gone,” the band isn’t pulling any punches—there’s some real sadness here. But there’s a lot else too and the title, Husk, captures some of that. A husk is, after all, the protective covering for a seed, the vessel carrying that life through to germination. Some seeds won't give up their husks until they've gone through the heat of a forest fire. It can also be the leavings, the empty carrier left without use, or as a verb, the revealing and unmasking. Husk, then, is an album pervaded by this sense of life and loss, with an acknowledgment that each has its place.