That Twin Cities alt weekly paper City Pages recently published a Q&A article on local band Laarks. After independantly releasing their debut album An Exaltation of Laarks and signing with indie-label heavyweight Absolutely Kosher records (which gives Exaltation a nationwide re-release), we really can't blame them for being curious. Rob van Alstyne picks singer/keyboardist Ian Jacoby's brain on band dynamics, the Eau Claire music scene and the album's production:

• CP: The record feels produced but still quite visceral. Were you consciously aiming for that balance?
• Jacoby: We tried to. Luckily we had a lot of people to bounce ideas off. We used Justin Vernon's microphones for the recording, and whenever he wasn't out on tour with Bon Iver he would check in with us and give his input. Brian actually mixed most of the record while he was out on tour with Land of Talk in Europe. That was really nice for us because they have such a dirty punk sound, and I think that rubbed off on Brian as he worked on our record. Using keyboards is inherently a little bit slick but we wanted the album to still have a bit of an edge.
  

Read the Q&A in full here. And keep an eye out for another Q&A from the Leader Telegram in a week or so, again with answer man Ian.