The Dry Spells

by Margaret Reges

Three students at Bard College -- Tahlia Harbour, April Hayley, and Caitlin Pearce -- formed the Dry Spells in 2002, prompted by a local news story about the accidental killing of a nine-year-old girl by a deer hunter. Drawing from traditional folk ballads, the trio started working on songs that welcomed comparisons to artists like Judee Sill, the Fairport Convention, and the Incredible String Band; given their woodsy, esoteric sound, the Dry Spells can be seen as belonging to roughly the same folky family as Vetiver, Fleet Foxes, and Bon Iver. Fellow Bard student Adria Otte, a classically trained violinist, was brought into the fold as a guitarist soon after the group formed. The Dry Spells relocated to San Francisco 2004, where fellow Bard grad Ezra Feinberg was living; Feinberg went on to recruit Harbour, Otte, and Hayley to be a part of his then-fledgling project, Citay. This project didn't put a damper on the Dry Spells, however; Harbour, Otte, and Hayley continued their work with the band, bringing bassist Diego Gonzalez (of SubArachnoid Space) into the fold to round out the group's sound. The Dry Spells eventually went on to record and self-release their first EP; Caitlin amicably split with the group after the disc was made in order to go to grad school. Tahlia eventually left the group, too, and went to team up with Sonny & the Sunsets. The Dry Spells' first EP eventually found its way to the folks at Antenna Farm Records, and the band was subsequently signed to the label. Their debut album, Too Soon for Flowers, was slated for release in the summer of 2009.