Little Wings - Biography
By Marcus Kagler
Where their lo-fi counterparts within the Pacific Northwest indie scene mostly rely on near impenetrable experimentalism, Little Wings takes a step back and baths in a laconic melancholy with a traditional American folk and country bent more akin to the earthy rawness of Woody Guthrie or early Bob Dylan on quaaludes than the obtuse artistry of Mount Eerie. Essentially the one man band of visual artist (and all around Renaissance man) Kyle Field, the band formed in the sleepy central California coastal town of San Luis Obispo in 1998. Field’s dreamy stripped down campfire song aesthetic and soulful California beach town tales steadily garnered a cult west coast following with Little Wings subsequently releasing their debut full length, Discover Worlds of Wonder (Walking) in 2000. Around this time Field relocated to the burgeoning lo-fi indie scene of Portland, Oregon where he assembled a loose collective of local musicians to flesh out the Little Wings sound. The follow up full lengths, The Wonder City (KNW-Yr-Own) and Wonderue (K Records) were both released in 2002, capping off what came to be known as “The Wonder Trilogy”, with the final entry serving as a tribute to Los Angeles based artist Victor Hu. The slight pop bent of Light Green Leaves (2002 K Records) followed later that year with the vinyl, cassette, and CD formats each containing a different version of the album in various states of completion (the final mastered version is on the CD). Harvest Joy (2003 K Records) and the wistful Magic Wand (2004 K Records) followed. Field temporarily broke from his signature sound with the highly experimental sound collage album Grow (2005 K Records) while the follow up full length, Soft Pow’r (2007 Rad Records) showcased a return to the lackadaisical country/folk of “The Wonder Trilogy”.
