Portland Band Creates a Folk-Influenced Orchestral Sound

written by Megan Oliver | photos by Leah Nash

Though this iteration of Alameda has been playing together for only a year, the maturity and melding of the band’s orchestral arrangements stitch seamlessly. The Portland based band was founded by singer-guitarist Stirling Myles and cellist Jessie Dettwiler, who came together in Portland by way of Colorado. As Myles made the transition from a bassist to a guitarist and lyricist, Alameda collaborated with folk-influenced musicians in Portland. An assortment of musicians made appearances in studio and on stage with the band before it landed as a foursome, with Phil Nelson (guitar) and Barra Brown (percussion).

Myles’s deep vocals float delicately over a mix of chamber, folk and dream pop instrumentation. The band’s spare and rich sound is dark and meditative but avoids getting bogged down. Alameda just came off a European tour where the band was able to experiment with the live versions of songs from their new album, Fortunate Vices. The album—which will be released in July on Myles’ label, False Migration— plays more with distortion than their sophomore album, Procession. This new layer brings with it a serene resonance, felt deep in the ribcage

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