At risk of sounding like an embarrassing, boastful relative, we’ll keep this short. Pastoral rockers Kithkin—whose bassist Kelton Sears just happens to work at Seattle Weekly—announced over the weekend (on the solstice, no less), that it’s joined the roster of woodland creatures, er, bands, at nature-worshipping label Pesanta Urfolk, a small indie imprint in northern California. The label specializes in what Sears calls “Cascadian rock.” “It’s a highly fraught label,” he says, “but it’s basically ecologically charged music about where we live.” (Sears goes into further detail on the idea in his October 29 cover story,

In Search of the Mystics

). The band will release its debut album, Rituals, Trances & Ecstasies For Humans in Face of The Collapse, on vinyl and CD in early spring. We admit it: we’re proud, but we’ll stop the gushing there—we promised Kelton we wouldn’t babble on. Rest assured, we’ll let you know when the album drops.