In essence, the idea of Ravenna Woods can be traced back to a small coral atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. With just an acoustic guitar and 4-track, songwriter Chris Cunningham traveled to the outer island community of Jabor, Jaluit to teach at a boarding school in 2007-2008. Immersed in the simplistic elements of acoustic guitar, ukulele and choral music, Cunningham drew inspiration from the extreme isolation of the location as well as the country’s unfortunate history as a nuclear testing ground for the US military.
Upon returning to Seattle, Cunningham quickly teamed up with like-minded musicians Brantley Duke and Matt Badger. Combining stripped down instrumentation with a penchant for hardcore/punk music, Demons and Lakes was dreamed up and executed in the form of a 14 song album in early 2010.
Valley of the Headless Men comes after being reacquainted with life in urban America.
Distrust in government agencies, capitalism, westernization, apocalyptic dreams, death, profiteering, war, environmental exploitation, global catastrophes…these are ideas that Ravenna has managed to weave together into a lyrical tapestry of dark observation and paranoia. Valley of the Headless Men is an imaginative reflection on the death rattle of the American dream.
Notable events over the last year include a west coast tour, music videos produced for “In the World” and “Ghosts” (the latter ending up being shown in Anthropology 101 classes across the nation), festival dates at Northwest Folklife, Fremont Solstice, the Capitol Hill Block Party, Kahbang, Doe Bay Fest, and Reverb Fest, an east coast tour with Hey Marseilles, opening up for Devotchka at the Paramount, and a Midwest tour down to SXSW documented via a daily tour blog on KEXP.ORG.
In addition to KEXP voting Demons and Lakes as one of the top 90 albums of 2010, City Arts Magazine listed Ravenna as the third favorite local band of Seattle music industry professionals, as well as Seattle Magazine awarding them the title of “Best Indie Acoustic Band of 2010.”
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