On April 8, 2008, Lo Fine, of Northhampton, MA, will release their newest LP Not For Us Two on Pigeon Records. Lo Fine has been winning over audiences from Boston to Seattle to Europe and back. With his penetrating lyrics and achingly hushed songs, Kevin O'Rourke lands his vocals on just this side of melancholy. Lo Fine creates expansive, beautifully literate songs that slip under one's skin with a welcome ease. Less is decidedly more, and the emotive resonance of the music speaks volumes.
Kevin O’Rourke began Lo Fine in 1999, recording the songs he had been performing solo in and around the Amherst and Northampton, Massachusetts area. The self-released Lo Fine EP, a collection of home recordings with a few live songs, came out in late ’99. At that point, Mark Schwaber, of the band Hospital, approached Kevin about starting a band based around his songs, beginning the life of Lo Fine the band. After a few shows as a duo, with Mark on second guitar and switching to drums for a few songs, Thane Thomsen, frontman for the Figments, joined as a bass player, making Lo Fine a trio.
The band’s first full-length, Nine was recorded in March/April of 2000 by Thom Monahan (Pernice Brothers, Lilys, Devendra Banhart, Beachwood Sparks), and released in late 2001 on the now defunct Natural Disaster Label. The LP was rounded out by contributions from Brian Marchese, drummer of The Figments, and Bruce Tull (formerly of the Scud Mountain Boys). By the summer of 2000, Bruce joined the group full time and Brian had also started playing drums regularly as well. A follow-up EP Slow to a Crawl came out in fall 2002 on Pigeon Records, and in March of 2007 West Main Development put out an EP of unreleased songs from 2001-2006, called Migraine Errata.
The new LP, Not for Us Two, is the most fully realized Lo Fine record to date. A full band record, with Mark, Thane, Brian and Bruce as the constant players throughout Not for Us Two captures a group of musicians making music together, working off of a special chemistry recognized and respected by every member of the group.
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