Born on a busy Dinkytown street corner in late 2011, Minneapolis-based Chants & Seas (Cecelia Erholtz and Channing Alto) have steadily been building their local prowess and strengthening their musical chops for the entire year they have known each other. Playing and writing original music that spans a number of genres (folk, soul, Americana, blues, bluegrass), the one commonality in all of Chants & Seas’ music is its ability to be played outside, around a campfire. This is a characteristic the band prides itself on, for it is where most of the music they play was inspired or written -- underneath the Minnesota night sky. Chants & Seas’ roots lie in the forests and lakes of northern Minnesota. Cecelia (age 20, vocals, acoustic guitar) grew up in the Brainerd/Detroit Lakes area and graduated from Detroit Lakes High School in 2010. After a stint at Columbia College in Chicago, Cecelia moved to the Twin Cities to start her musical career in her home state. Channing (age 21, banjo, drum) grew up in Walker, Minnesota. After graduating from Walker-Hackensack-Akeley High School in 2009, he moved to Minneapolis and is currently finishing up a degree in Communications Studies at the University of Minnesota. Despite living no more than an hour away from each other their entire lives, it took a chance encounter while Channing was busking on the street in Minneapolis for their paths to cross. Channing and Cecelia’s musical chemistry was immediately evident, and they began playing their first shows around Minneapolis in early March 2012. After playing as much as possible during the Spring/Summer, Chants & Seas recorded their debut EP, Timid and Timbuktu, in August. The EP includes seven original songs, each featuring Anna Hare on viola. Timid and Timbuktu was recorded over two days at The Terrarium recording studio in Northeast Minneapolis and was mastered by Dave Gardner at Magneto Mastering. Introducing the world to a unique form of high-energy music played with acoustic instruments, fueled by emotional ups and downs and live performance, Timid and Timbuktu shows a number of different dynamics Chants & Seas has to offer.