Normanoak

Chris Barth, who writes songs and serves as lead vocalist and guitarist in the indie rock band Impossible Shapes, launched Normanoak while tracking that group’s We Like It Wild album across the winter of 2002-2003. The resulting project, Born a Black Diamond, took shape on a four-track cassette rig during late-night hours once daily studio work had ended, producing an intimate, lo-fi set of backwoods folk songs equally indebted to Syd Barrett and Hank Williams. Secretly Canadian Records issued Born a Black Diamond in 2004.