The Kissaway Trail - Sleep Mountain (2010)

Frequently compared to the elaborate orchestral sound of the Arcade Fire (in fact, the same artist designed their album cover), the Kissaway Trail hail from Odense, Denmark, and comprise Thomas Fagerlund (vocals, guitar), Søren Corneliussen (vocals, guitar), Daniel Skjoldmose (guitar, keyboard), Rune Pedersen (bass), and Hasse Mydtskov (drums). Corneliussen, Fagerlund, and Pedersen had originally gone by the name Isles, and self-released an album in 2005. Skjoldmose and Mydtskov joined the band, and soon they renamed themselves the Kissaway Trail. After hearing a few songs, Bella Union in the U.K. and Etch n Sketch in Australia quickly agreed to press the group's debut full-length The Kissaway Trail in 2007. The following years were spent touring before they released their critically acclaimed 2010 sophomore record Sleep Mountain. The weight of expectation created tensions as the band fell out over their musical direction, and eventually guitarist Skjoldmose and bassist Pedersen departed. This left Fagerlund, Corneliussen, and Mydtskov to continue as a trio and they took time to re-assess their sound. Their third record, Breach, arrived in the summer of 2013.