Underskog

In the winter of early 2008, Kevin Morby moved into Cassie
Ramone’s small apartment in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, for a few
months. Kevin, who plays bass in Woods, and Cassie, who
…sings and plays guitar in Vivian Girls, wanted to start a band.
They both missed the sweaty loft shows they used to play
before their bands moved on to larger venues and longer
tours. So they wrote some songs on acoustic guitars and
casually talked about playing some house parties.

The next winter, when both Woods and Vivian Girls had a
longer-than-usual break from touring, they came back to
their idea. Justin Sullivan, who had played with Cassie in
Bossy, began practicing with them on drums, and the Babies
debuted in March 2009 as a three-piece at Dead Herring,
their friends’ loft in Brooklyn. They played a few times before
asking Nathanael Stark, formerly of Bent Outta Shape,
to join on bass, and the full lineup’s first shows were that
summer.

The Babies recorded and played shows in fits and spurts,
whenever they all happened to be in town for a week. They
recorded their self-titled debut album with Jarvis Taveniere
at Rear House Studios, which doubles as Kevin’s home;
his vocals were done in his own bedroom. (Jarvis, Kevin’s
bandmate in Woods, has also recorded Real Estate, Vivian
Girls, and Woods.) The debut follows 7" singles on Make a
Mess Records & Wild World.

The Babies songs are roughed up jewels that come from
the same cloth as Hazlewood/Sinatra, VU/Nico, Pisces/
Linda Bruner & other dream marriages. The band will tour
the West Coast again in January, where they’re temporarily
relocating for the winter to write their second record, before
going to Europe in the spring of 2011.