Yarn's music -- just like the band's namesake -- aims to be simple, functional and fun.
Blake Christiana, guitarist, vocalist and primary songwriter for the band, formerly fronted a jam band called Blake & The Family Dog, but decided he didn't like the musical direction the band was heading and formed Yarn, which began as a primarily acoustic outfit.
Listening to Yarn's music -- complete with mandolins, fiddles and banjos -- it's almost difficult to believe the band is based in Brooklyn.
"It seems strange," said Christiana, "but Brooklyn loves country."
Blake and his band are hoping State College will love it too when they perform tonight at Café 210 West, 210 W. College Ave.
While the band is based in Brooklyn, Christiana said New York's music scene isn't where the band's primary musical influence comes from -- his style was more defined by the music he listened to growing up.
The band does take some lyrical influence from the ups and downs of living in Brooklyn, even if it doesn't musically sound like it, Christiana said.
"This place can drag you through the mud and lift you up, too," he said. "That kind of feeling comes through in our songs."
The unpredictable nature of life is shown not only in the band's songs, but also in the way the songs are written. Christiana sits down and "hopes it comes," snatching inspiration whenever it arrives. He also said the band's sound is steadily getting more "plugged in." While its last releases were primarily acoustic, the next will be a much better representation of what the band sounds like live, Christiana said.
"We get better at playing together each album," Christiana said. "We're progressively getting tighter as a unit."
While the band's sound is changing, it's still maintaining what made it likeable in the first place, event organizer Mark Ross said.
"Blake has the kind of voice that's so easy to listen to," Ross said.
Christiana said the band's songs are mostly about life -- and not just the happier parts of it. Song titles like "I Feel So Low," "Lies I've Told," and "You Don't Love Me Anymore," show the kind of sentiments common in the band's songs.
"Even the up-tempo songs aren't the happiest," he said. "That's just how it comes out."
Even so, Christiana said the band isn't trying to bring anyone down -- group members want to enjoy themselves and entertain their listeners.
"The best shows are the ones where we're performing and the crowd is, in a way, performing themselves, and we're all feeding off of one another," he said.
