Album Notes

Seattle is home to so many dichotomies: the caffeine upper and the microbrew downer, the WTO-stopping environmental activist and the Hummer-clad new millionaires, to name a couple. A new addition is Half Light's debut album "Wait for Someday." Recorded on vintage analog equipment, the CD is tracked like a record with both sides exploring the duality of living in the sometimes beautiful, sometimes lackluster Pacific Northwest.

The band consists of four musicians with years of collective experience. Former Voyager One bass player, Dayna Loeffler, contributes the songwriting, ethereal vocals and rhythm guitar. Bill Patton plays guitar with the lush dynamism of Nick McCabe and groove of Keith Richards, while adding ghost vocal harmonies. The rhythm section of Jason Merculief on drums and Matt Rosoff on bass are perfectly restrained, yet able to drive.

Reminiscent of Mojave 3 and Mazzy Star, the simple songs effortlessly take on picture book qualities. The pedal steel on the opening track "Golden West" draws you to images of prairies and vast spaces, while the circular, Farfisa-driven "Dizzy" could find you thinking of a drunken summer evening. Baritone guitar on "Bellevue" and "Falling Away" evokes tumbleweed with a menacing edge. The delicate dream pop captured on "Ether" and "When There is Hope" may find you floating on water. Randall Dunn's thoughtful production draws this collection of songs together: even the lightest parts of this album seem tinged with a fog, and the rock parts enveloped in Seattle's unique malaise.