“I wanted to call the band The Mountains, but there were a lot of mountain bands at the time, and I definitely didn’t want to go with that blue-grassy vibe. We ordered some one-inch reel-to-reel tape off of eBay, and when it came from England or Scotland, it had a piece of tape on it that just said, “Loch Lomond”, so we put that in the hard drive when we were saving stuff, and it just kind of became the band name. I didn’t really know it was a lake in Scotland...I knew it was a lake somewhere, though.”  RITCHIE YOUNG [PASTE MAGAZINE]

And so it was that a band from the Pacific Northwest chose to name themselves after the largest lake (by surface area) in Great Britain.  Whether it was destiny or a simple act of postage and packing serendipity, Loch Lomond found themselves signed to Chemikal Underground, bringing with them an artful, understated melodicism and songs redolent of early REM, the psych-folk musings of Mercury Rev and the multi-instrumental fables of The Decemberists.
A music collective from Portland, Oregon, Loch Lomond began life in 2003 as the solo project of Ritchie Young.  Admittedly, most solo projects don’t involve a carousel of contributions from upwards of 30 musicians, but that’s an indication of just how amorphous Loch Lomond’s line-up was until 2007 (when their second album, Paper The Walls, was released).  Having coalesced into a more settled, six-piece incarnation, Loch Lomond finished recording ‘Little Me Will Start A Storm’ back in 2008 before the material was temporarily shelved due to mixing issues and the small matter of a sell-out US tour with fellow Portlanders ‘The Decemberists’.  Despite the delay in completing the album, touring with The Decemberists was a hugely positive experience for the band and cemented a relationship which, Ritchie explains, continues still:
“The Decemberists have been really good to us. They kinda grabbed us up and put us on a national level. We were playing small halls, so it was quite a shock to go from 100 people to 4,000 almost overnight. They are still very supportive to this day. Chris Funk has played shows on stage with us and the band comes to a lot of our shows.”
The mixing issues were eventually ironed out by a small army of mixers and producers: Tucker Martine (REM/The Decemberists), Tony Lash (Elliot Smith/Dandy Warhols), Kevin Robinson (Viva Voce), Adam Selzer (M Ward/Norfolk & Western) and Jeff Stuart Saltzman (Stephen Malkmus/Sleater Kinney).  From all of this creative input emerged not only the album, but material for the EP that preceded it (the ‘Night Bats EP’): a release that, thanks to a street trials pro rider from the Isle of Skye, would see Loch Lomond’s profile boosted significantly.   Already something of an internet phenomenon, Danny MacAskill decided he wanted to use Loch Lomond’s track ‘Wax And Wire’ for a new film he was making and reached out via the internet.  Ritchie takes up the story:
“We received an email from Danny asking to use the song.  He sent us a link which I stupidly didn't click on (if I had I’d have realised how amazing, talented and famous he truly was) - I had this attitude of "sure kid, use it, if it makes any money let us know". About a month later, having forgotten the whole thing, I started getting texts from friends all over the US saying “congratulations”. I was really confused so went online and there it was: on the front page of YouTube. We owe him so much thanks and gratitude.”

Danny MacAskill – “Way Back Home”: 12 million+ views on Youtube and counting.
Armed with the heightened profile gained by the Danny MacAskill piece (the band met Chemikal Underground while in Edinburgh promoting the film for Red Bull), Loch Lomond are now set to release ‘Little Me Will Start A Storm’ in the UK, Europe and the Far East.  Augmented by two additional tracks not present on the original US version (‘Tic’ and ‘Made of Ink’), ‘Little Me Will Start A Storm’ is a beguilingly subtle piece of work, showcasing not only the writing talents of predominantly Ritchie Young, but the assured arrangements of a tremendously gifted group of musicians.  Loch Lomond’s strength very often lies in their restraint, their ability to know when to do less rather than more, a skill perfectly highlighted with the close harmonies of ‘Egg Song’ and the languidly shimmering instrumental ‘Water Bells’.
It would be impossible however to appraise this album without making special mention of Ritchie Young’s extraordinary voice: one minute a strident tenor (Blood Bank), the next a gossamer-light falsetto (Earth Has Moved Again), his vocals add an extra dimension to proceedings and help elevate the collection of songs to an altogether more satisfying level.  Musical influences can be hewn from the canon of any band but with Loch Lomond it’s a trickier proposition: aside from the reference points stated earlier in the opening paragraph, there are hints of Fleetwood Mac (Blue Lead Fences) and the chamber folk that’s such a compelling feature of Fleet Foxes’ work.  More often than not though, Loch Lomond eschew the grandiose and bombast associated with bands featuring several personnel and opt for a much more refined approach: one that delivers an album of tempered string arrangements, sophisticated harmonies and a compelling flair for melody which, when taken as a whole, makes a gently insinuating case for greatness .
If the final lament of the album (Alice Left With Stockings And Earrings) signs off with the assertion that “six thousand men can’t be wrong”, then the very least fate can do, surely, is ensure that a great many more people than that discover the music of Loch Lomond...

Loch Lomond
Ritchie Young
Jason Leonard
Jade Brings Plenty
Perry Pfister
Brooke Parrott
Dan Galucki