Artist Biography

Anchored by vivid songwriting and eclectic instrumentation, The Acorn produce an original brand of experimental, popular folk music that effortlessly marries modern and traditional forms.

Rolf Klausener started writing under the moniker The Acorn in the summer of 2002. Initially an excuse to teach himself homerecording, these furtive experiments quickly started eating up the majority of his free time. These early musings would eventually become The Acorn's first full-length release, The Pink Ghosts.

A mellifluous, electro-acoustic tribute to the Ottawa region, The Pink Ghosts was by released in July 2004 on Jon Bartlett's proudly independent community-based label, Kelp Records. By this time, The Acorn had grown to include the talents of guitarist Jeff DeButte, visual artist and guitarist Howie Tsui and drummer Jeffrey Malecki.

In the fall of 2005, they released the 4-song EP Blankets. It was a more melodically focused effort showcasing the bands emerging synthesis of experimental folk and pop. Blankets earned the band notable praise from CBC radio, campus radio stations, and their first cross-Canada tour.

Inspired by the road and the communities they discovered beyond their sleepy capital city, The Acorn made every effort to travel the country, touring independently and as often as they could. Throughout 2005, they forged ties with a new, burgeoning independent Canadian music scene which grew to include Ohbijou, Bell Orchestre, Timber Timbre, Great Lake Swimmers, Snailhouse and many more.

A genealogical quest in late 2006 would prove to be the bands most challenging and sprawling project to date. Rolf began conducting interviews with his Honduran-born Mother, Gloria Esperanza Montoya, to help form a more complete picture of his family. These interviews, both harrowing and awe-inspiring, would push Rolf to apply for several arts grants to produce a song-cycle based on them. In the spring of 2006, The Acorn was awarded an Ontario Arts Council grant and City of Ottawa music grant to produce Glory Hope Mountain.

The immensity and scope of the project forced the band to put Glory Hope Mountain on hold. The band called up Montreal friend, pianist Keiko Devaux, and booked three days at Ottawa's legendary Little Bullhorn Prods (Kathleen Edwards, Howe Gelb, etc.) to document a new, live-off-the-floor EP titled Tin Fist. The EP was released on Toronto's Paper Bag Records (YouSayParty!WeSayDie!, Tokoyo Police Club, Woodhands, Born Ruffians) in late 2006 to glowing reviews. The band followed with their first headlining tour.

The Acorn spent the first seven months of 2007 finishing Glory Hope Mountain in a rented house in Ottawa's centretown. Not quite biography nor musical folk tale, Glory Hope Mountain, harbours the triumphs, discoveries, sorrow and life-affirming adventures of a life both remarkable and happily modest. Armed with drums, gut-strings, ukuleles, marimbas and the collective's best songwriting to date, The Acorn created a stirring musical document.

Since the release of Glory Hope Mountain, The Acorn have graced the cover of Canada's National music magazine, Exclaim and garnered innumerable rave reviews across Canada, and internationally. They were nominated for the 2008 Polaris Award, and were invited on a US tour with Tuscon AZ legends, Calexico. 2009 saw the band tour Europe 4 times opening for the likes of Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes and opening a large-scale UK tour for Mercury Prize winners ELBOW, climaxing at London's Wembley Arena.