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June 10, 2008 - These days, all it takes to make great music is a laptop and a mic. That said, it doesn't hurt if you can actually sing. Mike Boggs, aka We Were Pirates, channels the voice of Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard — while demonstrating a keen sense for layering electronic blips and synths with real instruments — on his five-song debut EP The Wolf. Boggs recorded the album on his trusty iBook using the free program GarageBand and two microphones. The homespun product is soft, beautifully textured electronic pop, perfectly tailored for headphone listening.

Boggs says he likes the control of self-recording. "I ended up just kind of falling in love with the process of doing it all myself," he explains. "I'm pretty obsessive-compulsive about my songs and I wanted everything to kind of sound a certain way."

With The Wolf, Boggs has woven together warm, slow-moving synth and guitar leads with unobtrusive drum and bass tracks. By avoiding electronic complexity, the sound highlights Boggs' beautiful, whispery vocals. The Ben Gibbard comparison seems to follow Boggs wherever he goes. "That's one I've gotten ever since I first started writing music years ago," Boggs says. "My voice is similar to his ... I always thought I'd have a harder time shaking the American Analog Set or Pedro the Lion comparisons, but I guess fewer people have heard of them, and my music is considerably poppier."

"Nervous," the third track from The Wolf, draws the listener in while Boggs emotes in a hushed tone through an entrancingly melodic, electronic soundscape. The song conveys an honesty that makes it feel epic, despite its soft simplicity.

Boggs is in the process of converting his garage into a home recording studio. Once the project is completed, he plans to record more and finish a full-length album. Boggs We Were Pirates' sound is evolving with the expanded studio. "The songs I've been writing have been faster and more upbeat and slightly more complicated."

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