Sea Wolf

Playing under the name Sea Wolf, singer-songwriter Alex Brown Church performs with a steady cast of backup musicians that help his indie rock visions come alive. Church possesses storytelling skills in spades, and frequently rouses both regretful and hopeful emotions with heart-tugging lyrics — most of which revolve around relationship woes ("Black Leaf Falls") or wasted time ("Winter Windows"). Many songwriters could spend their whole lives trying to write a song half as beautiful and complex as any on Sea Wolf's debut LP Leaves in the River; there's just something gorgeously creepy about the album's gentle chord progressions and pretty, stirring melodies. Riding on the success of his devastatingly haunting single "You're a Wolf," Church is charming his way across the country with hypnotic performances in intimate spaces.