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Artist
Common Loon
12+ albums
shoegazealternativedream popindieChampaign
about
The Common Loon is a bird and a band. Its awkwardly placed webbed feet make the Common Loon, a waterfowl, too clumsy to easily navigate land. It resides in the colder, northern environs of North America and gained a leg up on other pedestrian birds by appearing on the Canadian one-dollar coin. During mating season it makes a ruckus, wailing in a high-pitched yodel. Contrary to popular belief, the Common Loon does not mate for life. Common Loon, the band, is a duo of early thirtysomething songwriters with thick beards and full mustachios, compensating for an otherwise lack of physical prowess. They hang out in the flat Midwestern landscape of Champaign-Urbana, Ill., and earned notoriety by releasing a stunning debut album of spatial, reverberating rock music. During recording sessions they texture indie rock with subtle synthetics, honeyed vocal harmonies, and a smidgen of distortion. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible for two men, in this case the members of Common Loon, to befriend each other in kindergarten and foster a friendship—then a musical partnership—for a quarter of a century. Robert Hirschfeld met Matthew Campbell at age five. They became fast friends, crashing the country club pool on humid summer days. Later, they earned their first taste of success as a duo when they won a 14-and-under doubles tennis tournament. In high school, Robert convinced Matthew to purchase a drum kit so that they could tackle the disappointments of adolescence head on by formi
