Undaunted, ‘doom folk’ band lights up the dark

I love it when bands come up with their own genre names to describe the music they play. For instance, Moss Mountain Project, a band who will play at the Lompoc Cafe in Bar Harbor this Saturday, describe themselves as “doom folk.”

“I think a lot of stuff we write is fairly dark subject matter,” said Tim Ouillette, singer and guitarist for the southern Maine four-piece. “It’s things people don’t like to talk about. But I think we present it in a way where it’s inclusive. It’s not so scary. There’s a lot of humor in it.”

The dark humor of the lyrics is countered by the laid-back, lounge feel of the music – if the lounge in question is in the Appalachian foothills, and instead of martinis the players are drinking moonshine. Falling somewhere between bluegrass, jangly garage rock and jazzy, groovy jam-band territory, Moss Mountain Project is another band whose sound is rather hard to define. So “doom folk” it is. Or maybe “lounge grass.” Or “chillout country-noir.” Regardless, it’s engaging, weird-in-a-good-way stuff.

The story goes that MMP formed several years ago, after a chance encounter in Ouillette’s Portland apartment building.

“I came home one day and could hear people playing music upstairs, so I went into my apartment, grabbed a piece of birthday cake, and sat in the stairwell and listened for over an hour,” he said. “Finally I went upstairs and introduced myself, and offered some cake. They thought I was coming up to complain, but I came to compliment.”

The upstairs neighbor turned out to be Peter Hill, now the bass player for MMP. Along with drummer Jeff Harmon and percussionist Matt Blanchard, the four have played in southern Maine and Massachusetts since 2005.

In late 2006, MMP released its debut album, “Catfish Grouper Snapper,” a collection of 10 eclectic, moody songs that bring to mind the Talking Heads, the mellower side of Frank Zappa, and the more recent albums from Ween (specifically “White Pepper”). Ouillette himself mentions bands and artists as diverse as Primus and Will Oldham, aka Bonnie “Prince” Billy, as influences.

The band draws on life experience when it comes to writing lyrics, as evidenced in the confessional “Sunshine,” and the morbidly funny (but not mean-spirited) “Four Hundred Pounds,” which appears to be about a rather obese individual who watches a lot of TV.

“It’s just stories from people we meet. We sort of take those experiences and chew them up and digest and spit them out,” said Ouillette. “Our songwriting process has changed in that we used to write as a group, but now we write individually and then bring it to the band. We’ve morphed into more personal writing.”

MMP’s Bar Harbor show will be its first so far this summer, as work, travel and weddings have put gigs on the back burner. Ouillette has been playing solo in Portland and Boston for the past few months, but he’s looking forward to getting back into the full band groove.

“When you come to a show it’s like a folk experience to some extent,” he said. “It has a more folky feel, but it’s still kind of edgy. People can dance and yell, but it’s still very intimate. We like to bring the audience in.”

Moss Mountain Project will play at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, July 14, at the Lompoc Caf? & Brew Pub on Rodick Street in downtown Bar Harbor. The show is for ages 21 and older. For more info, visit www.myspace.com/mossmountainproject, or www.lompoccafe.com. Emily Burnham can be reached at eburnham@bangordailynews.net.