As an artist, re-inventing yourself in a whole different genre can be a risky endeavor, but in the case of Streets of Laredo, the Brooklyn NY based indie-folksters are really just digging back to their combined first love. Featuring Dan, Dave and Sarah Gibson (of Kingston, ElemenoP and busking fame, respectively) alongside musical veterans Si Moore and Haddon Smith, the band certainly has some impressive pop-rock credentials hung on it’s members, but after the first few bars of their new single ‘Girlfriend’ kick in, even the most ardent ElemenoP fan realizes that a whole new sound and era has kicked in.
As Dan describes it, “It’s psychedelic folk. At least that’s what a bunch of NYC music bloggers were calling the sound. I guess it’s equal helpings of some weird sonics paired up with the head-nodding folk grooves that we all love. It’s all good times, harmonies and crazy sounds - which suits us nicely.”
With a strong following built on hard work in the tough New York scene, the band have been playing in various guises since arriving early summer 2012 in what’s known as a very difficult town to break into, yet if any of the blog hype is to be believed it’s been easy for them.
“Easy might be a bit of an overstatement - it’s a hell of a town to get something goin’ on in - but it’s definitely happened for us a lot sooner than we thought. I mean, we’ve had Sharon Van Etten come to a show to check us out, Girlfriend keeps showing up on online mix-tapes, we’re playing and touring with a bunch of local Brooklyn bands who’re all on the same trip, we hear more and more US accents at our shows instead of mostly Kiwi and Australian ones... bit by bit it’s definitely happening,” says Dave.
With NYC music bible The Deli picking them as a ‘band on the rise’ and musical tastemakers on both coasts of the US giving them high praise for their first single and video, Streets of Laredo have taken a quick break from the building hype to get a lil bit of NZ back in their souls.
