NPR – World Cafe: Next: “a historical yet entirely contemporary work.”

All Music: ★★★★ “Canary is a true find from a band that’s quietly created one of the most powerful albums of the year.”

Paste Magazine: 8.4 “Especially when so many groups are mutating old-time American music into pedestrian pop, Southeast Engine distinguish themselves by gently updating these traditions for the 21st century.”

Pop Matters: 8/10 “an album where Southeast Engine brought everything together, never lost control, and never backed off of a hard vision.”
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Southeast Engine’s folk-rock aesthetic emerged from the Ohio underground in 1999. The Wrens discovered SEE in 2006 and led Misra Records to the band later that year. The esteemed A Wheel Within a Wheel was released in 2007 and followed with 2009’s From the Forest to the Sea. The latter received an 84 – Universal Acclaim – from rating aggregator Metacritic. While preserving the signature sound that garnered Forest/Sea critical acclaim, Canary marks a dramatic step forward in regards to both songwriting and arrangement.

SEE has been playing for over a decade. In 1999, Adam Remnant (lead vocals, guitar) and Leo DeLuca (drums) formed what would later become Southeast Engine. Both attended the same schools in Dayton, OH and grew up in The Gem City during its musical heyday of the 1990s. Both the ethos and music of bands like Guided By Voices, Brainiac, The Breeders, and Swearing at Motorists made long-standing impressions upon the two young musicians.

Shortly after forming SEE, Remnant and DeLuca moved to Athens, OH, where they immersed themselves in the Appalachian old-time & folk music of the area. From there, Southeast Engine’s sound – a unique hybrid of Dayton’s underground and Athens’ longstanding folk traditions, was born. In 2007, younger brother Jesse Remnant joined on bass, bringing with him a new component to the band – familial vocal harmonies. The multi-talented Billy Matheny started playing piano, organ, banjo, and guitar in 2008. This four-piece is Southeast Engine’s current and longest standing lineup.