Mundo Musique: Typhoon

Last week, I was lucky enough to catch Portland, Oregon based indie-folk group Typhoon in Philadelphia, PA with Okkervil River and Lady Lamb The Beekeeper. I didn’t know what to expect from Typhoon, I went mostly for Okkervil River and Lady Lamb, but I was absolutely blown away by Typhoon’s set (pun intended). Almost endless energy from 12 musicians on one stage, with two drummers, fiddle, a horn section, among many, many others. Their latest album, White Lighter was released in 2013.

White Lighter opens up with some interference, but do not adjust your speakers, the next track, “Artificial Light” is an epic indie folk experience. Typhoon definitely creates their own brand of folk music. They’re an immense band, with a lot of tools at their disposal, and they take advantage of it, the track “Possible Deaths” is an example of this, there’s piano, guitar, banjo, etc, but it’s not overwhelming. Lead singer and songwriter, Kyle Morton experienced battle after battle with lyme disease as a child, and a good portion of the album is about that struggle. He spent a lot of time in hospitals and experienced organ failures, and came to terms with his own mortality at a very young age. White Lighter does feature dark lyrics, but there’s so much beauty in the album, it’s so full of life, even if Morton sings “soon enough you’ll be dancing at my funeral” at the end of the song “Dreams of Cannibalism”. They remind me a bit of Lord Huron or The Head and The Heart, with a kind of largeness I’d associate with the Arcade Fire. Check them out, I feel like I was late to the party on this one, but they’re still on their way up, and they just headlined New York’s Webster Hall.