The Great Northwest by Mighty Oaks

There are two magical places on earth that vie for home in my heart. There's North Bend, Washington and the greater Snoqualmie Valley -- the actual area where I grew up. On the other coast, we have my current neighborhood of Columbia Heights in Washington, DC. With Snoqualmie Valley, I can talk for hours about Rattlesnake Lake, Mt. Si, Snoqualmie Falls, the outlets, the Twin Peaks references, my childhood home, George's Bakery and all the other spots I miss. However, despite those feelings, Columbia Heights generally wins the home battle, if only because of the people. 

Today, Snoqualmie Valley wins. 

My hometown area tends to be heavily influential on musicians, a thought that shouldn't come as much of a surprise. A few favorite examples are the band Snoqualmie (they'll get their own write up soon), The Cascades by the Fleet Foxes, and Twin Peaks by both Surfer Blood and Genders. I'm going to add a new favorite to this list today: The Great Northwest by Mighty Oaks. 

Mighty Oaks are based in Berlin but feature three musicians from three different countries (U.S., Italy and the UK). Together, they released a self-titled EP that went big on Soundcloud. The follow-up to that EP is the Just One Day EP, released on July 5th this year. The band is touring with large acts already -- they have that indie-folk sound and catchy tunes that could easily be played alongside The Lumineers, Fleet Foxes or Imagine Dragons. I have high hopes.

With three musicians from three different countries, I'm glad the Pacific Northwest is part of their inspiration. Not only are their lyrics reflective of this, their overall musical style is. I was honestly surprised when I realized they're neither a Seattle or Portland band. However, one of the members, Ian Hooper, is from the Pacific Northwest. I'm dying to know where. It has to be my hometown area, right?

Regardless, the band knows how to capture the magic:
we lost our sun in the rain // oh my love found me at the right time // my heart is yours, I ask you to be kind // we drove out east to the mighty Cascade range // to the place where the water falls from the heights of Snoqualmie // 

Today, I just want to go home and fall in love.

You can stream The Great Northwest and the entire Just One Day EP on SoundCloud. 

Mighty Oaks – The Great Northwest from Raffaele Mariotti on Vimeo.

(the picture at top is Mt. Si and was taken in my front yard the day before leaving on a plane out east)