Clubs: Natural Wonders Nature Club, Jazz Society

Quote: "If I should lose my eyes, still I won't be blind."

7 Year Rabbit Cycle's music is the perfect aural representation of playing both inside and outside the lines. The band combine elements of harsh noise, improvisational jazz, and traditional indie rock – like a sparser, less accessible version of the once little-known but prolific project called Deerhoof that 7YRC's Rob Fisk helped found. Without the cutesy vocals and dancey numbers, that is.

Fisk and his wife, Kelly Goodefisk, left the Bay Area in 1999 for Horner, Alaska, looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life while still remaining deeply involved in the art scene. They started a record label, Free Porcupine Society, in January 2002 and began playing music as 7 Year Rabbit Cycle that November.

But finding a satisfying compromise between nature and civilization wasn't so easy, and in 2003 they made a home in Oakland. "We realized that we moved [to Alaska] and did all of the building and the simple living a few years too early," Goodefisk says. "We wanted to establish the label a bit more. Up there, we were really removed from the music and bands that we are interested in. Plus, the rest of 7YRC is here in the Bay Area."

Fisk and Goodefisk were smart in keeping ties to the Bay Area – 7YRC have had an amazing cast of musicians, including Steve Gigante (THETEETHE, Tiny Bird Mouths) and Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu), play on their records. The current incarnation features Fisk (guitar, violin) and Goodefisk (vocals), along with players who've come from disparate musical backgrounds: former Chinkee's member Miya Zane Osaki (bass), local jazz fixtures Ches Smith (drums, vibraphones), Devin Hoff (guitar, lap steel guitar), and ubiquitous Bay Area underground rock champion (and, of course, Bay Guardian contributor) George Chen (guitar).

Goodefisk's voice is forceful and pained as she sings indictments of environmental wrongs and the war for oil, but she claims, "We hope that our music comes across not so much political, but anti-apathy." What strikes me the most when seeing the band live is what they can say using instruments alone. Transitioning effortlessly from completely stark and bare moments (save for tiny, rumbling drum beats or a pronounced guitar pluck) to full, abrasive, and chaotic outbursts within songs, the band's tension-filled energy reminds me of that weird feeling you get right before an earthquake hits, an uncomfortable instant of peace that warns of the dangers coming ahead. It's up to listeners to heed their alarm or to just enjoy the music for what it is. (Han)

For more information on 7 Year Rabbit Cycle, go to www.freeporcupinesociety.com/index.html.