The Woodlands, a wife and husband indie folk-pop duo, craft songs of lyrical poetry, lush melody and lingering revelry. They conjure faraway lands and the longing of lovers with timeless imagery that unearths both the shadow of tragedy and the glisten of wonder. Hannah's hushed voice of swift beauty conveys both mirth and melancholy, tempered and surrounded by Samuel's melodic instrumentation. They till the soil of their souls to reap songs and sounds wrapped in a hauntingly sweet hush of wonder. The grey of dripping dusk sounds forth an invitation to innocence. It extends its grey hand with a slight tremble and a quiet recognition of the disparity between its own chill and the warmth of the impending guest. Innocence reciprocates like a slow glance around the doorway that leads to a dim room, holding promises not only of marvelous wonder, but also of looming danger. And the allure of wonder prevails. The music is like the light of innocence that does not seek isolation or hibernation. It dances with gloom, not upon it. It does not intrude, it intervenes. And this light allures because it too has been haunted, yet shines more fiercely because of the haunting. After getting married several years ago and backpacking through Europe, they returned to the US and began writing songs together. Awhile later, the pair sold their belongings and voyaged to Central America for yet another adventure as they learned the language, worked as orphanage volunteers and continued crafting their songs. Upon a deeper realization that they had been smitten by the merriment of making music, they returned to the US with a gleam and a goal of recording an album and pursuing music further. They found themselves in a corner of their Portland apartment bedroom amidst an aged and worn wooden desk, elusive quiet night hours, and a homemade studio fort of blankets and pillows. There The Woodlands traveled the byways of one another's souls--seeking, listening and searching for words and sounds with which to share what they found. They independently recorded and produced their 2009 self-released debut album, true to their intent of capturing intimate songs of simple complexity that sound professionally homemade. The album has been received with both national and international praise, and with its release The Woodlands are set to embark as husband, wife and songlings on the voyage forthcoming. THE WOODLANDS FEATURES Filter Magazine (Undiscovered Band Of The Month interview feature) Filter Magazine (Quarterly compilation) Paste Magazine (Dale's Pale Ale download) Under The Radar Magazine (Song selected for December 09 issue #29 compilation sampler) CMJ (Sonicbids Spotlight) IndieFeed (iTunes #1 rated podcast) Virgin America Airlines (CMJ "New Music Discovered" in‐flight feature) American Airlines (Sky Radio interview and song in-flight feature) Sundance Film Festival (Two songs placed in feature film Nuummioq from GREENLAND) KCRW (Today's Top Tune) BBC Radio (Tom Robinson's Introducing UK) CMJ Radio 200 Charts (Album charting #128) Tinderbox Music (2009 US National Radio Campaign Contest winner) We Are Listening (Singer/Songwriter Awards Finalist) Sonicbids (Mr. Holland's Opus Compilation) Sonic Reducer (Compilation & Interview GERMANY) Goûte Mes Disques (Compilation FRANCE / BELGIUM) Nature Bliss (Compilation JAPAN) Radio (Played on 200+ FM radio stations USA / CANADA / AUSTRALIA / 9 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES) Press (Featured in 60+ blogs, articles and interviews) QUOTES "I dig your music." ---The Decemberists (Chris Funk) "The music sounds lovely!" ---Catherine Feeny (Hotel Cafe Tour) "Hannah muses about daydreams and longings while Samuel fills the sonic atmosphere with enchanting melodies." ---KCRW (Today's Top Tune) "Serene mosaic of fairytale-like sound." ---CMJ "The Woodlands' whisper pop will be a perfect compliment...just as the day's final hour of sunlight comes to settle on the horizon." ---Willamette Week "The Woodlands album is absolutely an ethereal trip through some of the best indie folk pop you will find (or I have ever found)." ---Slowcoustic "As soon as we listened we dug out our English dictionaries and started flipping desperately through them, looking for the right words to describe it. They had to be beautiful words, big words, words that hadn't been used before!" ---Letters Have No Arms! "This is a very good start of a promising band that should keep taking us into their haunting reflections of love and life." ---AW Music "Honey and haze...A beautiful collection of simply-arranged, but wondrous and poetic sounds." ---Womenfolk "Captures all of the beauty in their lives in each slow moving pass of the lens...The duo from Portland manages to craft engaging songs that only get better with each listen. Not a bad song in the bunch." ---Hero Hill "The truth is the music you two are creating has this sheer fragile beauty to it that I've only heard from a few others." ---Greg "The way Hannah's voice and the instruments compliment each other...it's a symphony of human frailty. I love it." ---Nathan Jacquart