Hear Juniper Tar's The Howl Street EP

Milwaukee band Juniper Tar established itself as one of the city’s finest purveyors of gentle folk-rock with 2008’s To The Trees, a spaced-out pastoral record designed for late summer nights spent polishing off whiskey bottles on the back porch. It’s no surprise that the new The Howl Street EP—named after Shane Hochstetler’s eternally busy Bay View studio Howl Street Recordings, where the record was made—is similarly lovely, boasting raw and ragged harmonies on the rampaging "Birds In Trees" and an understated sense of drama on the slowly unfolding lead-off track “Interstates.” But Juniper Tar has really stepped its game up in concert, unfurling a surly three-guitar attack that explodes the group’s delicate melodies in all kinds of thrilling directions.

Before Juniper Tar's EP release show on Thursday, give a listen to the new record here. You can also get a free copy of To The Trees by leaving your email at junipertar.com.