Le Loup

Vocalist and banjoist Sam Simkoff heads the six-piece indie rock outfit Le Loup, whose lineup blends an array of instruments with group vocal harmonies to shape an expansive, experimental style. During the second half of 2006 he remained inside his residence, layering tracks on a personal computer that later formed the basis of the group’s first album. Those pieces, built around repetitive hypnotic loops, banjo figures, and verses drawn from Dante’s Inferno, drew the interest of fellow residents in Washington, D.C. By the following January Simkoff had gathered an expanded roster that included Jim Thomson and May Tabol on guitar, Robert Sahm on percussion, Dan Ryan handling bass and percussion, Nicole Keenan on keyboards and French horn, Mike Ferguson on guitar, and Christian Ervin contributing intermittently on programming and guitar. The fledgling ensemble quickly caught the ear of Sub Pop Records, prompting founder Jonathan Poneman to travel from the West Coast for one of the band’s first performances. In spring 2007 Le Loup joined the roster of Sub Pop’s fledgling Hardly Art imprint, becoming only its second signing.

After the bedroom recordings received final mastering, The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations’ Millennium Assembly appeared as the official debut in September 2007. Ten months afterward Tabol and Keenan departed while Ervin joined on a permanent basis; the altered lineup maintained an active touring schedule and began shaping new songs that highlighted acoustic textures and collective vocal work. The musicians reconvened in early 2009, tracking the follow-up inside both a mountainside cabin and an urban basement with Simkoff and Ervin serving as producers. Family arrived that September, marking the first occasion the complete membership appeared together on a release. The album broadened the sonic palette established on Nations’ Millennium Assembly by foregrounding the vocal contributions of several members and incorporating an intricate blend of tribal, rural, and urban elements.