They come from Stillwater, Oklahoma. At first glance, they would seem a folk band but Other Lives are something more. Their peculiar style is something between the pastoral mood of Fleet Foxes and the sophisticated melancholy of Radiohead.

The band is led by singer/guitarist Jesse Tabish and released its first self-titled album on April 2009. The lead single from the record, “Black Tables”, was featured in Ugly Betty and gave the band the first bit of mainstream attention.

In May 2011 Other Lives released their second album: Tamer Animals, an orchestral folk voyage in the deep heart of America, with haunting songs like “For 12″ and “Dust Bowl III”. A really impressive record, that a BBC review labelled “The most uniquely sublime, meticulous and heroic 40 minutes of 2011“.

The album took 16 months to be recorded in Stillwater, like Jesse Tabish stated. “We always knew that if we worked on it hard enough that we would be able to accomplish what we wanted. So that wasn’t a worry, but the time, after 16 months, it can be a little taxing. Knowing when to pace ourselves or take a little break was the most difficult thing to figure out”, he said.

The work behind the arrangements is one of the many reasons that lay behind the intriguing beauty of Tamer Animals. One of the best record of 2011.