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Much like Iron & Wine and similar indie outfits, Sea Wolf is the project name of a sole singer/songwriter who drafts in other musicians as the occasion warrants. That singer/songwriter is Alex Church, a California native who looks to local authors like John Steinbeck and Jack London (whose 1904 novel The Sea Wolf provided the band name) for inspiration. Born in the small former gold rush town of Columbia and raised by a musically inclined, peripatetic mother, Church attended the prestigious NYU film school, then settled in Los Angeles and formed the indie rock band Irving in 1998. As one of three songwriters in Irving, he soon found himself with a clutch of songs that didn't fit the band's dreamy '60s-inspired psychedelic pop sound. Accordingly, Church and various friends played a handful of Los Angeles gigs as Sea Wolf between 2003 and 2005, when Church made a batch of home recordings that he completed in Seattle with Irving's producer, Phil Ek. Signing with the indie label Dangerbird...