Dakota Suite

The Leeds-rooted collective Dakota Suite revolves around frontman Chris Hooson, who sings and plays guitar, while producer Richard Formby—previously linked to Spaceman 3, the Telescopes, and Jazz Butcher—serves as the sole other consistent participant, contributing guitar along with harmonium, Fender Rhodes, lap steel, bowed double bass, and tape effects. Additional contributors have encompassed David Buxton on bass guitar and pedal steel, John Sheppard on drums, Peter Haslam on piano, and Colin Dunkley, who handles piano, strings, and co-writes much of the instrumentals. Hooson, whose singing has drawn comparisons to Red House Painters’ Mark Kozelek, Spain’s Josh Haden, and Mark Eitzel, frequently draws from deeply personal episodes; in late 1995 he attempted suicide by remaining in bed and willing himself to cease living. He has also been employed at a hospice for terminal alcoholics, directly encountering the despair and inner torment that permeate his measured, melancholic songs tinged with country elements, which feature spare acoustic strumming, brushed drums, fragile horns, keening lap steel, expressive electric piano, and sporadic cello and violin. The group further interprets chamber-orchestra works.

Hooson and Formby first connected in late 1996 during the recording of Hooson’s initial demos. Formby and a Leeds record-shop proprietor subsequently established the Amos label to issue those recordings as three Dakota Suite EPs in late 1996 and early 1997; the material later appeared, augmented by unreleased tracks, on the 1998 CD Alone With Everybody. Favorable coverage and grassroots enthusiasm surrounding later 7-inch and split-7-inch singles on assorted imprints secured a more structured deal with Glitterhouse, which released Songs for a Barbed Wire Fence in 1998—the title Hooson had originally favored was “Bereavement and Loss.” When live performances became necessary, Formby offered his assistance, and the ensemble toured for nearly a year even as Hooson retained his hospice position. Hooson and rotating musicians tracked material either at Formby’s residence or in historic churches chosen for their resonant spaces. Hooson ultimately declined his lone chance to sign with a major label, explaining that he values his job too greatly, and instead issued Dakota Suite albums on the German independent Glitterhouse; he has arranged U.K. licensing through Loose Recordings, U.S. release via Badman, and Japanese distribution by Tokyo-based Painted Sky Records.

Photographs by Hooson’s wife Johanna—somber, high-contrast black-and-white images—serve as cover art that mirrors the recordings they enclose. Navigator’s Yard, a set of instrumental pieces for piano and other instruments, appeared in 1999, followed by Signal Hill in 2000 and Morning Lake Forever in 2001. The Way I Am Sick, comprising instrumental works for chamber orchestra, emerged in 2002; Painted Sky Records issued that album domestically with a bonus disc containing the non-Navigator’s Yard instrumental tracks from the prior releases. A two-CD/LP anthology of the first two Dakota Suite albums was also released under the title Blown About a Moon. This River Only Brings Poison was recorded in San Francisco with Bruce Kaphan and Tim Mooney (formerly of American Music Club) as well as in Nashville with Derri Daugherty of the Choir.