The Okay Lakes
Watch a live, solo version of “Cracks”
A stripped-down, live, solo version of "Cracks" from our debut show at the Hideout in Chicago last August
The Okay Lakes
The newsletter for my music project, The Okay Lakes.
The Okay Lakes
Listen to "Redshift" the debut album from The Okay Lakes — out today
The 12-song LP is a cinematic soundtrack to a night drive on the patchy back roads of a sprawling Midwest soundscape, out where the county lines of baroque folk, art rock, and Americana meet.
The Okay Lakes
"Redshift" is a song about feeling like a stranger in a place you used to belong
Hear the title track off the album (out next week!)
The Okay Lakes
"Cracks" is an art-folk tone poem about the dueling brutality/beauty of Chicago winters
A simple, windswept, string-laden guitar tune that sounds best when played with frost-bitten fingers
The Okay Lakes
My debut album "Redshift" is out on February 23
Watch the album art trailer and get details on the album release show at Hideout in Chicago
The Okay Lakes
How I made my new song "A Cross on a Gravel Road"
An anthem to soundtrack late-night drives on the back roads
The Okay Lakes
The story of "A Cross on a Gravel Road" starts on the backroads of northern Michigan
The rest of the song of "A Cross on a Gravel Road” took a long time to find. And when it finally arrived, it lit the way for the rest of the album’s songs to follow. The central image, however, was immediate.
The Okay Lakes
Sleeveless Hearts (Music Video)
If you ever had a night like this... may you never again
The Okay Lakes
Listen to The Okay Lakes' debut single, “Sleeveless Hearts”
Check out the first single off my upcoming debut album, "Redshift"
The Okay Lakes
The groove for "Sleeveless Hearts" haunted me for a decade
If you had told me back then—in 2012, jeesh—how long it would take to figure out where to go with this hypnotic little groove, I’m not sure I’d’ve kept at it. But for 7-8 years, I kept sporadically returning to and abandoning this idea. It, in turn, did the same.
The Okay Lakes
Watch the album trailer for "Redshift"
Get a peek inside Shirk Studios and Populist Studios at the work of crafting the debut Okay Lakes album, "Redshift"
The Okay Lakes
DEMO: “Castaways in the Night”
Quit yer doomscrolling and listen to this moony lullaby instead