Blitzen Trapper
Pure Furr

Review By Matt Conner

Sub Pop turned 20 this year. And, somehow, the future looks as strong as its past. Seems a reach of a statement considering the Seattle label boasts itself as the birthplace of grunge music with Mudhoney, Soundgarden and Nirvana once calling it home. The last decade remains just as rich, with The Shins, Iron & Wine, and Hot Hot Heat among others trumpeting the label’s ability to find and nurture new talent.

Now, the name to know is Blitzen Trapper. The Portland, Oregon sextet crafted three albums worth of Pacific-branded folk before landing with Sub Pop for the much-heralded Wild Mountain Nation, which jumped to the top of several critic’s “Best Of” lists for 2007. And after a year of touring and recording, the band has just issued its latest album, Furr

“It wasn't really a strategy,” says singer-guitarist Eric Earley of the endeavor. “We were just following our own record cycle. We weren't thinking about labels. We paid for the publicists and radio and tours and everything. And then Sub Pop said they wanted to put out the next record, which was cool for us because it's really hard to put out your own. And we had done that already, so we thought it would be nice to have help.”

As much help as Sub Pop could offer, the band still found itself going back to the familiar formula of previous recordings like Wild Mountain Nation and Field Rexx. For the last few years, the members of Blitzen Trapper — Earley, bassist Michael Van Pelt, keyboardist Drew Laughery, drummer Brian Adrian Koch and multi-instrumentalists Marty Marquis and Erik Menteer — holed up in a former telegraph office in Portland’s downtown area with their lo-fi instruments of an abandoned piano and a 4-track recorder. Earley notes that while it’s not the most glamorous way to record, it’s a part of their sound.

“I think it's a pain but it's one of those good pains, you know?” he laughs. “Hurts so good. I don't know. Unfortunately the 4-track I used on the last record got destroyed, so there's no more of that magic. It just broke. It was like 10 years old since I bought it when I was 18 or so. But I think any limitations you put on yourself in any situation are going to be good. Any limitations are going to bring about some things that you have to think through.”
The studio has only recently transitioned to the stage for Blitzen Trapper, touring outside its Northwestern comfort zone on the strength of Wild Mountain Nation. It’s been an interesting ride for a band very at home in the studio.

“We were really not touring until Wild Mountain Nation and that's a whole different thing,” says Earley. “When we started touring, everything kind of changed pretty drastically. Before that, it was just playing locally and making records that we gave away locally but with Wild Mountain Nation, we've turned into this touring band. And I'm enjoying that a lot. I feel like it's changed us a lot but in a lot of good ways. You get to go all around the country and meet a lot of other touring bands and learn from them. [The indie bands] Two Gallants and Fleet Foxes have taught us a lot in that regard.