Saintseneca - The Mallwalker (2016)

Indie folk unit Saintseneca were founded and led by songwriter and lead vocalist Zac Little. They are a mercurial group that melds folk music from Appalachian and international traditions to postmodern pop and acoustically driven indie rock. Little had been playing in folk bands with friends from a small Ohio town. The group moved to Columbus to attend college and began playing dozens of house concerts. Their first self-titled EP was issued in 2009, and by then the lineup had changed. A second EP, the cassette-only Gray Flag, was released in 2010 and Saintseneca became a national touring ensemble, playing wherever and whenever they could, working college radio hard and continually shifting their lineup. They were signed to Anti in 2012. Their debut album, Last, was released in the spring of 2013. By this time, the band's lineup had changed yet again and Little remained the only original member. He immediately began recording a follow-up album in a friend's attic. The early-2010s lineup -- Little, Steve Ciolek, Maryn Jones, Jon Meador, and touring member Matt O'Conke -- also collaborated with other musicians. After filling a computer's hard drive with songs and sounds, Saintseneca moved their operation to Nebraska to work with producer Mike Mogis, where they revisited each song utilizing a plethora of electric instruments in their mix. Anti released Dark Arc in the spring of 2014. Little decided to further challenge himself by writing songs that could more easily be identified with pop. To that end, he cut dozens of songs with producer/engineer/multi-instrumentalist Mike Mogis and a small cast of like-minded players. He whittled the final selection to 15 tunes. The finished album was issued as Such Things by Anti in 2015. ~ Thom Jurek