Christina Courtin is a New York City based singer, violinist, violist,
and composer. As a singer, she has performed alongside and supported
such acts as Marianne Faithful, Suzanne Vega, Mike Doughty (of Soul
Coughing), Teddy Thompson, Ray Davies (of The Kinks), Aoife O'Donovan
(of Crooked Still), Benmont Tench (of Tom Petty and the
Heartbreakers), Jon Brion, Brooklyn Rider, The Knights, Robyn
Hitchcock, and Greg Cohen. She has had many pieces commissioned for
her, including a piece entitled "Three Roads" by the hyper-accordian
player MIchael Ward-Bergeman that premiered at Carnegie Hall. Her
self-titled first record was released on Nonesuch Records in June 2008
and her sophmore album entitled 'Ladies Who Lunch' is to be released
in the spring of 2011.

Steve Koester moves from the Lower East Side in Manhattan to the side of Pakatakan Mountain in the Catskills. In this place he is reawakened to love, family and the transformative power of the natural world. In this place he writes his personal masterpiece.

"Koester wanted the album to reflect not just the natural beauty of the Catskills, but its musical history, too: The Band and Bob Dylan, Van Morrison's early solo work and Karen Dalton's 1971
cult classic In My Own Time. "I feel an affinity for all those artists because even though they use roots and country elements, they are coming from a very different, more urban, more complex
place musically. It’s roots music, but through a filter." Growing up, albums like R.E.M.'s Reckoning, the second Meat Puppets full-length, and the Violent Femmes' Hallowed Ground
were touchstones for Koester, and Songs for the New is an extension of that aesthetic, a distinctly American music that defies easy categorization. Certainly, that's how Two Dark Birds
discuss their own music; they're just as likely to reference Anthony Braxton or Fleetwood Mac at band practice as they are Waylon Jennings. Categories are for marketing teams. 'Either the music connects to you or it doesn't.'"

Two Dark Birds' Songs For The New is out October 4th, 2011 on the Riot Bear Recording Co.

Praise for Two Dark Birds 2008 self-titled debut:

"Strange and beautiful... It's a record heard best with a beer in hand beneath a star-punched sky." Nylon

"An understated beauty that holds up well to repeated listens..." Reveille

"...a masterful soundtrack to self-reflection." Men's Vogue

"...one of this year's most subdued and moving releases." The Big Takeover

"Cut by cut, it's mix tape silver and gold, and taken as a whole it's a new friend ready to wrap your ears in good thing." Jambase

"Two Dark Birds borrows from the dark side of the Laurel Canyon sound and gets better with each listen. A genuine late night vibe hovers over this album." Scene

"Subtlety and realism reign supreme in Two Dark Birds' timeless narratives of real life." Exclaim!