Riding the wave of commercial exposure

The newly released film Twilight: New Moon has done more for fans than just satisfy their vampiric needs: It has given them a look into new music from well-known and lesser-known artists that appeared on the film’s soundtrack. One of these artists is West Coast-based Sea Wolf, led by singer-songwriter Alex Brown Church.

Church, who will be performing with the rest of Sea Wolf at the Doug Fir tonight, was approached last fall by movie executives and asked to record a song they planned on using for the film. This opportunity led to Sea Wolf recording “The Violet Hour,” which the group performed at a show in Los Angeles with other bands from the soundtrack, including Death Cab for Cutie and Anya Marina.

Though New Moon was a good opportunity for Sea Wolf to reach a larger audience, the band was already well on their way after the release of their latest album White Water, White Bloom. On this new album, Church focused on bringing a fuller, more complete feeling to the music.

“The live performances from the first record sort of took on a new life,” Church said. “The songs became a lot more dynamic. I just wanted to capture that feeling in the recording of this record. I wanted to make this record sound like what we sound like live.”

White Water, White Bloom starts with what sounds like an orchestra tuning before an exhilarating performance. That mentality is carried throughout the entire album.

Since his ideas started flowing for the new album, Church has focused on making it a complete work instead of 10 separate tracks. That concept, combined with the new full-band sound, has revealed a change in Sea Wolf’s style and willingness to expand outside their usual softer, laidback sound.

“I would say my method of writing hasn’t changed but…I would say that, lyrically…I have a better, much stronger sense of what I want to sing about,” Church said. “The act of writing a song hasn’t changed but I think my understanding of what to do once I get a song idea has definitely evolved.”

Call it evolution or call it a pure change in style, but either way Sea Wolf’s bold new album is a success. Part of this came from the band’s opportunity to record the album with the help of producer Mike Mogis, who has worked with artists like Bright Eyes, Monsters of Folk and M. Ward.

“[Mogis] wore kind of a lot of hats in the recording process,” Church said. “He was engineer and producer…and a player on the record so I think that was the biggest thing, the amount he contributed musically.”

Sea Wolf’s show tonight at the Doug Fir is an opportunity for Portlanders to observe the moving parts they have heard in the band’s new record. Continuing their West Coast tour, Church will be joined by members Theodore Liscinski, Lisa Fendelander, Joey Ficken, Joyce Lee and Nathan Anderson. Sea Wolf’s motivation to bring consistency between their record and their live performances should make tonight’s show more up-tempo and dynamic as they incorporate layered sound and new music.