How many times have you heard an Oakland (California) based alternative folk band sing about the rough life of fishing off of Alaska? I certainly never have until Port O'Brien came along with their CD that swept me off my feet, All We Could Do Was Sing.

How does this happen you ask? Well, the male counterpart of the original duo that made up the band, Van Pierszalowski, lives in the Bay Area but would go up to Alaska every summer to work on his father's commercial salmon fishing boat while his female counterpart, Cambria Goodwin, would tirelessly work as a head baker. During this process of long workdays and heavy labor, both managed to write music and become inspired to make an eleven track emotion roller coaster album that they self released with a newly added rhythm section.

It starts off with the cheerful mood rising song "I Woke Up Today" that fills my head with images of high spirited Alaskan fishermen skipping onto their commercial fishing boat ready to go catch their fortunes, then instantly shifts gears to them being surrounded by ocean, defeated and disheartened by poor numbers in the much slower track "Stuck on a Boat," where you can heart the loneliness of the fishermen longing for their lovers back on shore. The somber mood continues as the fishermen drink to pass the time, suffer from bad weather and hopelessness,and battle with the idea of dying at sea and their own gloomy thoughts throughout the rest of the ride.

I usually don't even like any form of folk either, so this is an alternative folk album that can appeal to you even if you don't think it would.

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