Minor Alps

Over the last two decades, both Juliana Hatfield and Matthew Caws have carved out long-lasting — and strikingly independent — careers within a dependably fickle music business, Caws with his now 20-year-old New York City group Nada Surf, and Hatfield with the Boston-reared Blake Babies, the Juliana Hatfield Three, Some Girls, as well as a number of releases under her own name. They first worked together in 2008 when he added vocals to the song Such a Beautiful Girl from her album How to Walk Away. She quickly returned the favor, singing on the Nada Surf b-side I Wanna Take You Home. It was clear from these brief encounters that their voices and sensibilities are almost preternaturally harmonious — or, more accurately (as illustrated throughout their new album , recorded under the name Minor Alps), it can be difficult at times to distinguish between their voices, or to know where one's ideas might end and the other's begin. As Hatfield declares, "In certain ranges, the tones of our voices are so similar I can't tell which is which. I haven't experienced that with any other singer." It's as if they were always meant to perform together, and the pair has, luckily for us, finally realized it.