On the eve of the release of the Essex Green's new album, we thought it might be nice to take a moment to plug the Sixth Great Lake, which has pretty close ties to the Green.
Although tracking the different permutations that branched off from the Vermont-based Guppyboy in the late-90's can be a bit exhausting (the soundest effort can be found at the blog Latitude 44.2 North), the simple explanation is that Guppyboy split into two bands, the Essex Green and the Sixth Great Lake, and for a little while they shared pretty much the same members. But while the Essex Green--especially in the early years--had a psychedelic feel, the Sixth Great Lake owed more to the history of country and folk music and influences such as The Band. SGL released an album on Kindercore, Up the Country, to glowing reviews in 2001. Later Sasha Bell left the band to concentrate on the Essex Green, the Ladybug Transistor, and her solo project, the Finishing School; Jeff Baron also left for the Green; and Michael Barrett, who had released his own solo album, Couches and Carpet, left the Essex Green and moved to Nashville.
If anyone thought the Sixth Great Lake was dead, their questions were put to rest by 2003 as the band toured extensively and released a tour CD, House of Cards. The band now consisted of Michael Barrett, Zachary Ward, and Christopher Ziter. Their sophomore album, Sunday Bridge, should have been released by The Telegraph Company, which released the Finishing School album as well as one of Dressy Bessy's finest, but that label, tied up in legal battles with Kindercore, vanished. Looking around for a distributor, SGL finally decided to release it themselves as a vinyl LP. Sunday Bridge was officially released in 2004 in a limited edition of 500 copies, each containing a different playing card to help the band track the album's distribution across the world. In 2005 Carrot Top Distribution agreed to help get the LP in stores, and in August Apollo Audio agreed to stream the album online. To date, however, Sunday Bridge is still not scheduled for a CD release.
The album itself, mirroring the paring-down of the band between albums, is more focused, with consistently strong songwriting throughout. The songs have a power that creeps up on you slowly, until you hit the one-two punch of Ziter's "Kentucky," a powerful, memorable ballad, and Barrett's "Smokin' Joe," a soft but stirring piece that closes the album. Sunday Bridge was one of the best albums of 2004, and hardly anyone heard it.
The band has confirmed to Optical Atlas that they still have copies of the LP for sale at their website, so we urge you to give a listen. (You can also read reviews and order other merchandise at the site.) If you've never heard the Sixth Great Lake before, but you like Essex Green, you owe it to yourself to give their sister band a listen. If you don't have a record player, check out their tour CD House of Cards, which features some tracks from the album. Like Sunday Bridge, you can buy it directly from the band at their website.
The Sixth Great Lake also informs us that they've contributed to an upcoming compilation from Guessing Game Records, entitled The Spirit of Discovery; the compilation also features Red Pony Clock, Poison Control Center, and more. This CD should be out soon.
In the meantime, we'll keep you posted on the Sixth Great Lake.

Thanks to the Sixth Great Lake for helping us out with this story.