Crooked Fingers w/ Strand of Oaks and Testa Rosa

Following the breakup of influential North Carolina indie-rock band Archers of Loaf in 1998, vocalist Eric Bachmann launched Crooked Fingers as his de facto solo project. Distancing himself from his previous group's drunken wallowing, Bachmann has used Crooked Fingers as an opportunity to paint with lighter musical shades and showcase his skills as a singer-songwriter. The band followed 2008's Forfeit/Fortune, which featured guest vocals from Neko Case, with last year's Reservoir Songs II, a sequel to Crooked Fingers' 2002 covers EP, and this year's full-length Breaks in the Armor, which masterfully balances hard-grooving rock songs with unsettling, quieter moments.