Packwood’s 50 Piece Orchestra EP

While most folks tend to half-ass their first EP to save a few bucks, Sydney-based Packwood (a.k.a. Bayden Packwood Hine) twice pulled together a 50 piece orchestra for his (the first round didn’t come together quite like he hoped) and then kicked it to Abbey Road in London for mastering.

Packwood’s self-titled EP (Amazon MP3 & Spotify), released a year ago this month, is true orchestral folk – a more literal use of that sub-genre given to folks like Lost In the Trees or Hey Marseilles. Made up of songs that were mostly inspired by Bayden’s surroundings growing up in rural New South Wales, its seven tracks take the listener on the kind of mind journeys that result from film scores, but are also stacked with Bayden’s Sufjan-style vocals and banjo.

Last year, Packwood opened for the Punch Brothers on the band’s 2012 Australian tour and has maintained a nice folk and hipster following, with performances since at this year’s Sydney Festival and a show last Thursday with Sam Amidon. A new EP is in the works. He lived in Michigan for a short time a few years ago and, despite his gentle demeanor, was once stripped searched by the U.S. TSA.

Here’s the video for “Bats,” my favorite song off of the first EP. There are a lot of bats here BTW.