Crown Larks

“…a coed unit of electro-jazz shapeshifters with a penchant for blending the schizophrenic and radical musical movements its hometown is notorious for producing. On the harsh and ethereal soundscapes of the quartet's recently released Blood Dancer, Crown Larks effortlessly hop from the sonic explorations of horn-driven electro-jazz fusionists like Chicago Underground Duo to the soothing post-rock vibes of Tortoise to the elegant avant-pop of The Sea and Cake. With ghostly girl/boy voices and dreamy saxophones peppering its contorted melodies, Crown Larks groove and skronk well beyond their years.” - The Village Voice

“Crown Larks threw psych-rock, noise music, and free jazz into one album-shaped pot and stirred until the whole thing combusted. ‘Chapels’ is one of the more straightforward tracks — and even that spins out into a demented keyboard boogie towards the end — but now they’ve shared a new video that significantly ups the weirdness factor. The band plays in grotesque masks and costumes while two wraithlike women wander around various landscapes, contorting their bodies inhumanly…” - Stereogum

Impose: “… an avant-garde melting pot that depicts what happens when musicians on the same wavelength fuse mind, energy, and talents together as a unified communal-like force. ‘Overgrown’ is not your parent’s side b singular jam band track, but Crown Larks’ experimentation in creating plant and tree like textures that grow before your ears and eyes upon listening. Jack’s voice guides you through the evergreen tall grass, wild grown hedges, the thick of the woods until the Larks transform the entire soundscape into a jungle of amplified orations. Guitars grind against the droning meditation, as synths make circles like a dizzying swarm of birds, buzzards, and scuzzed out fuzz that blares and beats like scuffed up trainers stomping on a yoga mat. In under eight minutes you will have felt as if an entire natural habitat bloomed before you.” - Impose

“… demonstrates a learned appreciation for the city's recent underground musical history (particularly the ongoing collisions between improvised music and art-rock, which has marked the scene for more than two decades). The material is rooted in a hazy strain of expansive psychedelia, with loose grooves that suggest a Krautrock band wrecked on some strong weed… caterwauling horns form a cumulatively chaotic patch of sound that's inextricably woven into the sonic fabric draping the band’s lurching rhythms.” - Chicago Reader

Ad Hoc: “… exists at the intersection of the free rock, avant-garde jazz, and outre improvisation scenes which have long been a hallmark of the city’s music culture. “Blood Mirage” is the first taste of their upcoming debut Blood Dancer. A lumbering, slow-burn intro is worth the wait as Crown Larks launch into an unexpectedly tight groove, smearing healthy dollops of saxophone over an energetic percussion attack that reframes the preceding skronk as a storm-before-the-calm palate cleanser. In an admirable display of patience they have waited until now to unleash their debut long-player. The authentic chemistry that results from hours upon hours of gigging is heard throughout Blood Dancer.” - Ad Hoc

“…a dive-bombing combination of, to use recent examples, Freak Heat Waves, a much less lofi Puffy Areolas, and maybe even a recent darling like Fat/Bad History Month. I dig the way the songs don’t follow a pattern yet still seem to carry a rhythm through all the jukes and jives… Blood Dancer is impossible to predict, in a quality way, not a rambling, shambling, gambling way, though chances are taken.” - Tiny Mix Tapes

“A-… a combination of punkish psychedelic grit, non-grandiose prog/art-rock flourishes, and significant borrowings from the fount of jazz… the difficulty in categorization doesn’t carry-over to the listening; accurately, Crown Larks dish out raucous, expansionist rock drawing from a wide range of precedent while connecting to the nonce… whenever rockers cast a glance jazzward, cringe-worthy moments are to be expected. But in a nice twist, Crown Larks reveal an understanding of the Windy City’s notions of ensemble interaction rather than simply the post-bop-derived head-solos-head model, which when interpreted by rockers almost always succumbs to machismo… What’s especially striking is Crown Larks’ avoidance of overshooting the goal in the attempt for a ‘big finish.’ Never victimized by gratuitous form-moves, individual and group adroitness is on display throughout Blood Dancer. Sidestepping hand-me-down tropes, rarely has a full-length debut arrived so resistant to directly taggable influences, and for that matter been so refreshing.” - The Vinyl District

“… blasted off their set with a dissonant mix of hypnotic guitar, alarmed synth, and a patter of drums that sounded like a super-intelligent cat was walking deliberately across the kit. It made no sense, but in the same way that the Big Bang doesn’t make sense – we can’t understand how energy turned into matter any more than we can understand how Jack Bouboushian’s droning guitar solos fall neatly into the frantic, freeform rhythm of Crown Larks’ music, but we can accept its stark beauty… the moments when all the avant-garde puzzle pieces came together in a wall of vicious electromagnetic, kaleidoscopic waves made the chaos worth it.” - Gaper's Block

“This genre meandering array of textural fields, noodling guitar notes, lost horn flares & whispers merges the territory between exploratory krautrock and contemporary free music movements. Hints of avant jazz schooling grow in extended horn techniques, vocals float above a rhythmically driven structure, guitar movements float from a languid collection of notes to a spastic caterwaul of avant shred destruction. Gentle drones flourish into blazing psych epics.” - BlogTO

“… a Chicago sextet that create some of the densest, tightest psych, free-jazz jams, that, when broke open, unspool into some the most glorious strains of forever-ascending squalor I’ve heard all year… Taken in small chunks it’s easy to appreciate the lumbering, meaty rhythm sections that weave in and out of deft Kraut-inspired bass lines that gradually take an exit off the autobahn into the grimiest of Chicago neighborhoods where all hell breaks loose under the weight of three brass instruments soloing above that locked-in bass line and some of the best out drumming that is able to trade flashiness for brass-tacks before selling it all in an eight-armed pummeling as the track looses its moorings and leaves the city, the planet and all known multiverses behind. It is really inspiring to see a band deliver on the promise of some of the finest prog-influenced, noise-bred bands like $keletons, Clipd Beaks and ZS that gained traction in the late aughts and are now being delivered in massive ways by newcomers like Jobs and Crown Larks.” - Tome to the Weather Machine

“Make no mistake, Chicago’s Crown Larks have their credentials to certifiably Rock the Fuck Out, sure, but their true mastery of technical skill and composition comes out most strikingly in their slower moments. Note, I cannot in good conscience say ‘calmer’, as the entire tape could easily be a concept album of being stuck in a Really Bad Situation… like holding your hand through a darkened-rainbow-slew of varying panic attacks and near kidnappings, until some pinks tint the smog overhead and your halfway house is just around the corner.” - Cassette Gods

“The psych groove and layers bring to mind CAVE or WUME, but as Bouboushian screams and Gillete rips you have a completely original beast here… Bill Miller is a bloody beast behind the kit; cracking, splashing, rolling, and eventually settling into comfortable strides all over Blood Dancer. This is a beautiful piece of art that every Already Dead collector should own.” - Already Dead

“… manages to weave together the skronkiest free jazz, the deepest krautrock grooves, the most expansive psychedelia, and an ethically sound DIY backbone to create a work of startling beauty and intrigue on Blood Dancer, their debut LP. While a less-maniacally-driven-to-tour band would most likely sound sloppier crafting such a diverse sound, Crown Larks manage to impart wonder in their compositions. As such, the surprises are near constant, which, once again, could easily allow for slip ups, but the band is as tight in its performance as it is ambitious… magical and elusive.” - Delayed Gratification

“…cinematic, feature a clarinet and saxophone, and often sound like a bigger band than just a quartet…” - Chicago Tribune

“Crown Larks manage to wrangle punk, avant-garde jazz and improvisation into a searing swath of tumultuous free rock. It’s all very balanced, interweaving languid interlude with chaotic upswings. Noisy, unpredictable and sometimes very strange, Blood Dancer won’t be leaving my rotation for a long time… This is a band that knows its sound incredibly well; nothing is overdone, nothing is flashy. Each song, though, is arranged perfectly, and each instrument given its place in the complex mesh of sound. There’s a lot to love about these seven songs, especially if, like me, you still play Come’s ‘11:11’ or Sonic Youth’s ‘Sister’ fairly regularly. … My highest recommendation on this one.” - The Active Listener (NZ)

“At the heart of Crown Larks’ music is a dank, prog throb that unpredictably slices and carves heavy post-rock strokes. The employment of off-center syncopation and bleating horns reminds of a soundtrack from some modern-day film noir. The journey that Blood Dancer takes the listener is a winding one, but the trip itself is exhilarating.” - Another Dying Artform

“… an unpredictable but always-engaging whirlwind of moods and styles, jack-knifing around the tempo range and always seeking something new to try. As a release by a well-established band, it would be impressive enough, but as an album with only one EP preceding it, Blood Dancer makes for a jaw-dropper.” - Ride with the Devil (UK)

“Crown larks’ songs luxuriate in their grooves and reach for the outer cosmic corners while the rhythm section keeps it grinding on the ground. These songs are trips in every sense. Woodwinds and horns provide moments of noir atmosphere when they aren’t in the middle of a full-on interstellar freak out.” - The Modern Folk

“Crown Larks counts 9 instruments between 4 musicians, entering psychedelic jazz chamber territory. Catalytic Conversion is upfront about it’s freeform in studio, the dynamism of the players evident… Opening the album slowly with Malone’s Lullaby in two parts, a duet between guitar on raag rock scales against repeating organ arpeggios. Things start heading psych and off kilter, meandering saxophone and organs with Drownt at Cost. On Satrap the quartet is hurling some fast and free rock out there in layers of thick sustained guitar…” - Tape Famous

Occasionally the concept album makes a brief appearance, and I have a theory that every musician secretly wants to make a concept album, whether they choose to admit it or not. I'm not sure how widespread the concept EP is though. Perhaps this is a medium that bands can use to let that creative spark go without boring us with double albums about strange ideas or historical myths. Chicago band Crown Larks have done just that, with the bulk of this EP being made up of 'Malone's Lullaby' parts 1 to 4; essentially one continuous piece of music that changes wildly from the muffled acoustic beginning, through (deliberately) messy guitar sections, to the addition of organ and brass and a change of tempo, to the almost lo-fi alt-rock section and the inevitable pure prog-rock finale where they all get to pretend they're in Emerson, Lake & Palmer for a few minutes.

It's not indulgent though, and the screamed vocals over the noodling organ, rampant guitars and brass instruments that sound as though they're being violated in some way, give a much more up-to-date feel. Once this odyssey is complete we move into the chilled but bleak 'Aquarium' which has the vibe of '90s US alt-rock but slowed down until it's little more than a dirge. 'Blue Lobsters' shows that this band may not just have had a fleeting prog itch to scratch; perhaps this is who they really are. The song bears many of the genre's hallmark sounds, despite it's more regular length. It could be that the concept EP is a way of letting off your prog steam, but in the case of Crown Larks it might just be the stepping stone onto that double album based around an ancient Native American legend from around their hometown...
- Sound of Confusion

Crown Larks are a noisy group of jazz and experimental rock enthusiasts out of Chicago. On string, skin, woodwind, brass, and keys; the four-piece creates vibrantly cacophonous sounds that compulsively change stylistic lanes. Jazz swerves into garage rock, then turns to noise, and then doubles back to become prog, etc. It’s a sound that never stays in place long enough to risk getting boring. - Reviler (MPLS)

Crown Larks have become one of the more fascinating bands to follow on the local scene, as they seem to stretch and grow with each new performance. Last year the group released Catalytic Conversion, a record at once wild, droney, delicate, fierce, melodic, complex and raw. That’s a mess of contradictions, but Crown Larks managed to blend them all to center, the result being a beautifully crafted debut. Their live sets have journeyed out to the more psychedelic/drone end of that spectrum; a viscous, technicolor sound exploration that curves and zooms like a getaway car. - Windy City Rock

Crown Larks‘ sound is reminiscent of stepping into the daylight with a head-pulsing hangover: a disorienting lo-fi haze with loud monotonous vocals. Their latest album leads through a sort of psych rock day trip, occasionally in the vein of The Doors, and at other moments in Thee Oh Sees’ territory. Check out “Pt. 4 Satrap” from Catalytic Conversion below.

Why we love them: Crown Larks push the concept of lo-fi into a thick and mushy psychedelic mess without losing an intricately layered depth of sound. With their interesting choice of instrumentals (like their melancholy, “Rhapsody in Blue”-style clarinet solo in the opening of “Aquarium“), smooth track transitions, and solid production, the foursome assert their uniqueness in the local psych scene. - Local Loop Chicago

For a lark, I put on the first track, titled ‘Malone’s Lullaby, Pt. 1'… whoa! It’s very post-rock, experimental. I hear low organ type tones that run through the whole piece, a stripped down and subtle rhythm section, minimal touches of guitar. It’s actually very, very nice! The vocals are sincere, not always spot on with the tuning, but I quickly sense that I like it a lot and feel that it definitely works, has a charm and a magic about it. This track… I think naive, genuine, lovely — which, really, it sounds very professionally aware of it’s own sound, what it’s going for in effect. I like also how, out of nowhere, the sounds will begin to build up, as if the musicians are leading into something intense and amazing and… then they stop, it gets taken back down. Wonderful so far, I’m enjoying where this is going and dreaming to myself of what I might hear further in!

‘Malone’s Lullaby, Pt. 2' continues in a similar fashion as the previous track, very similar sound profile at first. We hear drones, some sound like feedback. I think I hear a saxophone, oh yeah!!! This might be a good time to mention the line-up of members of the Crown Larks… on sax, zither, bass and keys is Chris Boonenberg. What’s a zither, you may ask? I can’t explain that, either… well, I suppose that being on the internet, I could find something about it. Bill Miller is the drummer, Lorraine Bailey plays keys, flute and clarinet, and last but not least is Jack Bouboushian who adds guitar and bass and also sings. This track has a lot of great, noisy vibes… it’s kind of psychedelic in a way as well, very fun!

‘Pt. 3: Drownt At Cost’ feels like you’re coming up for air, with strumming guitars. The rhythm comes in, along with some nice vibes. This almost sounds post-punk! Goes into some heady noisy rock thing that sounds like people just fucking around, very nice…

… these first four tracks blend into one another, which is really cool. ‘Pt. 4: Satrap’ begins with guitar, a cool bassline comes in, slow rhythm builds, then it goes into the main body of the song. If feel like I’m being filmed in slow motion, running up to a can laying on a street and kicking it with great force and energy, then we pan to an really awesome little organ solo. I think this is the first time I might have reviewed an organ solo, so let me just say, I do have a weird love for organ solos. This tune is hitting a soft spot in my heart right now, especially since it’s very wild rocking stuff! Distorted vocals here, intensity, an ever-shifting soundscape with lots of interesting audio effects all kind of blurring my perception of what’s going on, this sound is burying itself in my brain. I hear what sounds like a harmonica or some kind of horn doing a solo now too! Wow.

Next is ‘Aquarium’. A bit of clarinet, feedback. It’s soft, causing you to lean in… that is, if your speaker(s) are in front of you like mine are. If they’re behind you, you might lean backward, or if you’re wearing headphones your eardrums might begin to expand outward toward the speakers. Guitar, drums, vocals… there is, dare I say, a bit of a Radiohead vibe on this record, but I like this a lot better. I don’t like Radiohead at all really. I feel like I’m laying on a beach, and it’s hot… the sky is red, the water is violet, the sand green, and I’m drinking vodka martinis for some reason while thinking about the universe.

Then it’s ‘Blue Lobsters’! If your lobster is blue, do not eat it! It may make you sad… and be otherwise disgusting. This track is fun from the very beginning… interesting grooves, somehow classic and yet also a touch avantgarde. It has a classic jazz/rock/fusion progression type feel and flirts a bit with that sort of sound, but frequently throws different things at you… like flute, distortion and feedback, a broken up rhythm.

The final song is ’6-5 (Live)’, which is a blast of impromptu-sounding rock driven by drums, organ leads and guitars while every so often a sustained vocal is carried over somewhat off-key, but that just makes it even more fun.

If you’re looking for something that’s kind of like a meeting ground between post-rock and what you might also deem to be more of a “classic” rock basis or feel, featuring some unique instrumentation, energy and an originality all it’s own… give this a chance. I suspect that even if at first listen you think to yourself that you might not know if it’s your thing, give it a bit and come back and I think you’ll find something about it that has grown on you. If it’s something you like immediately, cheers! Here’s that link you would expect, at the bottom of the - Yeah I Know It Sucks

In general, touring bands that travel to Houston from far away, deserve more praise. While Houston is rapidly gathering more and more national attention for achievements in art, music and just being an all-around cultural destination, it’s not always the easiest place to hit on the typical tour route. This Wednesday, the city will get a visit from a Chicago outfit called Crown Larks, who will perform on Wednesday night, at AvantGarden.

Their debut “Catalytic Conversion” is an open-ended affair, with varying song lengths/forms, and some lyrics, but not so many that they feel like unneeded filler where the band’s very sufficient music will do on its own. The lack of constant vocals itself, which has been the trend in rock music for a long time now, does a great deal to distinguish Crown Larks’ music from what we all normally expect. These periods of vocal silence are both relaxing and haunting, and open up greater musical space for experimentation and lead playing.

The group mixes grinding, overdriven guitars with soft Modern Lovers keyboards and jazzy clarinet/sax work. The resulting sound is emotionally heavy and sombre, with the odd pop of levity, mostly courtesy of jazzier sections, like “Blue Lobsters” and “Pt. 3: Drownt at Cost.”

These men and women deserve a good reception here in Houston. They’ve been touring like real champs, and are far richer than the average band blowing through. They were kind enough to answer some of my questions via email.

If you wouldn’t mind giving me some very general background information
about the band, how long it’s existed, who founded it, where it
started, objectives, etc. Just basic stuff.

Jack: This band came out of me and Lorraine and our friend Mike jamming
together last summer, first shows end of last year, and then Bill and
Chris got on board in February and things got going more. We made the
tape and planned to tour on it a few months later. A lot of the songs
came from just jamming for hours in the basement with as many friends
or randoms as are around at the time, then

Do you remember Autolux? They haven’t made a record in a few years
now, but I could totally see you guys opening for them, or really,
them opening for you.

J: Yeah, I liked Future Perfect, that’s the only record I know of
theirs. Just looked them up to see what they have going on nowadays,
and yeah, if they want to take some time off from opening for Atoms
for Peace or playing ATP to play with us in a warehouse…
When did the wind instruments enter the picture? Were they there from
the beginning of the band’s history? These are highly intriguing,
especially to someone like me, a huge fan of Roxy Music and stuff from
that era. Wind instruments are largely neglected now in rock music,
sadly.

Lorraine: Clarinet was my first instrument, so it was natural to incorporate it.

J: It’s hard not to want to incorporate winds, listening to Yusef
Lateef or Eric Dolphy, or the sax meltdowns on The Stooges’ “Fun House.”
It’s lucky to have people involved who can play wind instruments, so
we can experiment with organic instruments and what they can evoke,
instead of only different electric tones.

And yeah, the role wind instruments play in rock music is weird…
you’ll hear a whole syrupy wind section reviewers describe as “lush,”
but it’s rare to see a wind instrument prominent on its own … someone
showed me a review of a Deerhunter album I like, Halcyon Digest, where
the reviewer was like “this is the year of the saxophone! Deerhunter’s resurrected the saxophone!” because there’s a big sax lead on one track…
What can people expect from live shows? What’s your style and
presentation, while playing live?

J: I think a good live show has to have a raw, human messiness and
chance element. So it might involve a lot of noise and improvisation
or maybe just good execution of more structured stuff, but there
should always be some shit flying off the handle live. And with all
the different songwriters and instruments, we’ve got a wide range of
songs and sounds, so the setlist changes nightly depending on the
vibe, sometimes louder or noiser, sometimes quieter and spacier.
What has your worst experience been on the road so far? You’re all
traveling a good distance to play these shows?

J: Right now I’m at a café in Greensboro, and they’re playing Steve
Miller. The distances aren’t too bad generally and we mixed days off
in (https://www.facebook.com/events/669932109700135/).

Chris: Steve Miller is like the sound of chlorine. Like if you’ve
ever dropped a hot dog into a pool.
Talk to me about Catalytic Conversion. It’s a very free-form record,
with many different facets. I thought it was super heavy at first,
hearing “Satrap,” but songs like “Blue Lobsters” have a light, airy
characteristic to them.

L: To me, a good studio recording will have the noise, the mistakes,
the serendipity, etc. of a show, so in that way we’re happy with - Free Press Houston

It’s time to celebrate our 1000th follower with a debut album by a freewheeling Chicagoan free rock team Crown Larks. Offering a healthy dosage of calm, melodic psychedelic rock with a slightly experimental edge, this album is an answer to the growing need for string-based blissfullness after a winter of electronic, synthesized drones and ambient soundscapes. Under a modest cover hides an explosion of Technicolor colors. Kinda reminds me of an LSD-soaked version of Polish band Myslovitz. - Weed Temple

Not many folks say “did you get a load of that clarinet solo on that track?” It is odd that many of the old European instruments that were once a staple of music and culture have been abandoned by popular music in this part of the world. I saw a Banda act play the other day, and I was reminded that in certain countries (and parts of this one for that matter), horns and brass are still featured prominently in music.

Crown Larks from Chicago are a band that has found useful and exciting ways to use instruments outside of the familiar rock canon. They put together what could accurately be described as Post-Rock, with long form songs that build to expressive highs and explode all over any basement apartment that's being channeled through. What really helps this group stand out from their contemporaries is the creative instrumentation provided by Lorraine Bailey, the group’s member responsible for flute, keys, and clarinet. A track like “Pt. 4 Satrap” elevates these kids above the mere noodeling of music geeks with too much magnetic tape on their hands, and justifies a peek into just what is going on in the Windy City.

They are heading out on a massive 40+ day tour soon, so check them out when they come to your town or regret it forever. - Space Rock Mountain