Pitchfork

Raucous indie roots band Oakley Hall have been snapped up by Merge Records, Pitchfork can exclusively announce. After releasing two albums this year--Second Guessing on Amish and Gypsum Strings on Brah (the vinyl version of the latter is out December 5, by the way)--the sextet plans to have their next full-length ready for the world by next August.

Vocalist/guitarist Patrick Sullivan told Pitchfork that Oakley Hall chose Merge for several reasons. "They're incredibly nice, approachable people, which is always a plus when you have business," he said. "We did a tour with M. Ward this September, and he was a major cheerleader for them; he couldn't recommend them enough. We hit it off with him and really respected his opinion.

"They're also the kind of label that's getting rarer these days, [in that] you can trust the Merge brand. We look at everybody else on that label, and I'm a fan of every one of those bands. We wanted to be a part of that tradition, and we're very excited about it."

As for parting with Brah, which is part of the Jagjaguwar/Secretly Canadian family, Sullivan said there are no hard feelings. "Those guys are our best friends. It's all amicable. Actually a lot of them recommended Merge. They're great people too, we just felt it was time for a change for us, and without getting into the details of it, there were just better things on the table coming from the Merge side."

"We're still brahs," he added, utilizing the term Brah label heads Oneida use to refer to, y'know, bros.

Oakley Hall have four shows scheduled this week, after which they'll take a break for the rest of 2006. Work on their Merge debut will commence early next year.

"We already have a lot of new material that we pulled out on tour this year, so a lot of the album is already ready to record," Sullivan said. "We're going to spend a little time coming up with some new stuff and record it in the late winter or early spring."

The band doesn't have a studio or producer lined up yet, but they're taking suggestions. "A lot of it has to do with where we decide we want to spend the cold New York winter months. So if anybody in any studios near the Gulf of Mexico has any interest, we're all ears."

Oakley Hall dates:

11-07 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace *
11-08 Montreal, Quebec - Green Room *
11-09 Boston, MA - TT the Bear's *
11-10 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge *

* with Micah P. Hinson
# with Christy & Emily, Damon McMahon