CHARN

Enter into the world of Charn, no…. not the fictional city featured in the Chronicles of Narnia, the other Charn, the Minneapolis-based indie rock quartet.
Taking their name from a prank once played on them, the guys in Charn are no joke when it comes to musical talent. The soft-spoken childhood friends, Levi Stugelmeyer, Steve Bosmans and brothers Phil and Alex Hicks officially released their debut album, These Sins of Mine, on Aug. 7.
Charn’s vocalist, Alex Hicks, like most artists, derives his lyrical inspiration from events in his life, but let’s his fans ponder at the story behind each song, which is why the band opted not to include the lyrics with the album. “Every person that listens to our music will interpret the songs in their own way and we don’t want to ruin it for anyone by including the lyrics” explains Alex Hicks.
These Sins of Mine includes nine tracks and a slightly disturbing cover depicting a fox holding a dead animal in its mouth, which speaks volumes about the album itself. The melancholy tone of the album alludes to the struggles the band has endured in recent years; Alex describes it as, “a snapshot of 2007.” Each member of the band plays an important role in the song writing process, “It’s very democratic, we all fight for the arrangements, and we never play a song until we’re all settled on the arrangement,” said Phil Hicks.
The never-serious guys of Charn spend their days working odd jobs, playing with their two cats, Willow and Umlaut, and Alex enjoys late night Roseanne Marathon’s on cable. Though they may not take themselves seriously, their music is seriously something anyone with a broken heart can relate to.
- Minneapolis Rock Music Examiner

If you've read C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia you might recall the city of Charn, the ruined, deserted city void of all life with the exception of a small vine in a courtyard. More recently, Charn has taken on new life in the form of a St. Paul, Minnesota four-piece band that instantly appeals to any rock, indie or folk music fan. The music may, at first listen, sound a bit gloomy but actually it's quite optimistic; anyone facing despair could probably instantly relate to it. But the gist of the music is honesty and that serves to build the quality of it. It's actually quite good alt-rock, done by four guys with a knack for excellent instrumentation. The band's debut album, These Sins of Mine, was release a couple weeks ago and it may well be one you'd want to add to your music library. There's not a bad track on the album; highly recommended. - Local Vertical

Minnesota is a pretty cool place. Some of my favorite bands of all time (The Hold Steady and The Replacements) hail from the St. Paul area and I hear Minneapolis is a pretty cool place to hang out and drink. One of my new favorite bands out of the region is the four-piece indie rock group, Charn. Charn say their influences are The Jayhawks, Soul Asylum, The Replacements and Tom Petty; all four of which I truly enjoy. They also site Minnesota winters as an influence and while I’m pretty sure Minnesota is one of the most miserable places on Earth during the winter months, I appreciate their love for their hometown. If you read this blog regularly you already know how much we gush about being from Bakersfield and the “sound” the city created, so I like a band that embraces where they are from.

Charn plays some pretty straightforward indie rock and they definitely have a very accessible sound. They have enough folk and country intertwined to mistake them for an alt-country band at times and we don’t have any problem with that at FPM. Their debut album, “These Sins of Mine” was released back in June and features ten emotionally drenched tunes about the vulnerability of life that I’m guessing all those Minnesota winters brought on. When I listen to the record I can’t help but recall the great and very underrated debut from Nada Surf, “High/Low.” “These Sins of Mine” has that same aching attitude with just a little less punk rock. My favorite tracks are definitely the bands more rocking moments, like the lead-off “Satellites” and the pure pop of “Happier Than Me.”

All in all, this is a very solid release. What I’m really looking forward to is enjoy this record to bad weather out here in San Francisco. It has a very cloudy, foggy winter day feel to it and I think that it will best be enjoyed under those circumstances. If I like it this much in 75-degree sunshine, I feel pretty confident that I’ll be spinning this one through the winter months. - Front Porch Musings