It's late for Santah to be the American Radiohead, but there's always the Urbana, Illinois, Wilco. That sounds dismissive; it's not. The mercurial music of Wilco (and Granddaddy and Okkervil River) is fertile grist for the mill of songwriter Stanton McConnell and his young, skillful bandmates. On last year's White Noise Bed, they grind together pearly acoustic guitar, gnarly noise, amber-tinted keys and reckless harmonies with plaintive imagism. If it's not quite the sound of a band that's found its own métier, the forthcoming EP You're Still a Lover points in a clearer, self-driven direction. Santah is very much a Midwestern band to watch.
Noteworthy: Santah has recently moved up to Chicago, where it recorded its new EP at Pieholden Suite Sound, a studio founded by the late Wilco guitarist Jay Bennett.
