BIO:
Lofty Stills is the musical project of Seattle singer/songwriter Luke Culbertson and collaborators, combining gauzy shoegaze fuzz with dreamy alt-country folk songs.
After releasing a self-titled EP in 2016, the project’s debut album Refrain (2017) explored country-tinged folk and dream pop, receiving positive critical attention from internet publications and creating a small but dedicated following on social media.
After playing live to support Refrain in the Seattle area extensively through 2017 and 2018, Lofty Stills released a collaboration EP Wilder Shores of Love (2018) with Holden Days, an LA-based producer and songwriter, featuring warbled tape recordings, thick and heavy production, and emotional dual vocals.
After releasing the ambient track Dog’s Smile in 2019, Lofty Stills took a hiatus until mid-2021.
During the hiatus, after learning new skills and with the extra time afforded by the COVID-19 pandemic, Lofty Stills decided to remix and remaster their 2019 album Holy Flutter. Originally released in 2019, this version is remixed by Luke and remastered by Kelly Reaves of Constellation Sound as the album that should have been, along with a new single version of the song Strong Enough (out now). This album is an emotional and introspective journey into loss, interpersonal turmoil, and the hope found beyond it. Lo-fi cassette recordings clash against cinematic indie rock arrangements, with Jamison Dewlen on pedal steel adding a dreamy, country flair and Brennon Knott holding down the rhythm on drums. Holy Flutter will be released September 3rd, 2021.
press:
"The reverb-drenched sounds of atmospheric keyboards work so well with pedal steel guitar that it’s weird somebody didn’t think of it until now, or at least nobody’s done it like Lofty Stills, the musical project of Seattle’s Luke Culbertson. His airy falsetto floats over instrumentation that draws as much from dream pop as it does country, a combination that you might not think works until you see it beautifully in action here." - Nerdist (#1 on Bandcamping: the 5 best underground albums of October 2017)
"Lofty Stills reminds us of The Swell Season with bits of Sufjan Stevens, and if these comparisons are not enough for you to listen to their debut album Refrain, we hope Out Of The Sighs will. Gently building, backed up by a soft banjo, a pure folk diamond." - Where The Music Meets
"Culbertson's arrangements are lush without overwhelming [his] delicate emotive tenor; his vocal harmonies doing the majority of the heavy lifting. Lofty Stills' songs arrive and leave in majesty vocal flourishes flooded with raw emotive force and yet there's no doubt Culbertson crafts his songs with meticulous precision. It's production is svelte but not too polished, spotlighting the roots in folk and country over Culbertson's electronic know how...[The Lofty Stills EP} is a stunning collection of songs brimming with beguiling intimacy and winsome sincerity and musicianship." - All Around Sound
"[Every Fight] is a complex, attention-grabbing track [that] provides the electronic drama of a Baths track with more acoustic guitar and strings. Here’s a voice to watch." - Independent Clauses