Crooked Fingers

After a ten-year run fronting Chapel Hill indie luminaries Archers of Loaf, Eric Bachmann and company stepped away from the limelight at the height of the band’s popularity. Now, having spent just as much time creating music as Crooked Fingers, it would seem that Bachmann is pretty comfortable in his own skin. Steadily pushing away from the noisy caterwaul of the Archers, Crooked Fingers has become an increasingly interesting experiment; Bachmann, who lived in Denver for a spell and still has friends and ties to the city, has gone from sparse, tortured troubador to embrace a worldlier, more gypsy-esque vibe. In contrast to the obscure lyricism that made up a good chunk of the Archers catalogue, Bachmann has now taken on the storytelling/songwriter role, unapologetically guiding the listener through both bright, golden-tinged days and sinister, India-ink-hued nights.