Great Northern - Trading Twilight for Daylight

Great Northern is the product of L.A. - based musicians Solon Bixler (former guitarist for 30 Seconds to Mars) and Rachel Stolte coming together to create this dreamy folk-rock indie pop quartet. While all those monikers may be confusing they're able to blend personal styles and vocals to create rich layers and textures with great orchestration. Both Bixler and Stolte take turns singing, which creates some great and interesting harmonies. They occasionally take turns singing within one song which gives the feeling of dialog or story going back and forth.

This debut album Trading Twilight for Daylight (2007) is pretty solid throughout, with a few standout tracks that are, simple put, catchier than the others. The album has just enough "rock" in it to keep it from floating away or being incredibly corny. All the tunes have a firm melodic foundation, and are layered with strings and keys while still having some great guitar licks.