Churchill turned quite a few heads when it arrived on the scene last year, seemingly fully formed. Actually, the six-piece grew out of a collaboration between Tim Bruns and Michael Morter, former classmates who came together when Bruns moved back to Denver from Nashville after trying his hand as a solo artist and after Morter graduated from Baptist Bible College. The songwriters soon added cellist Amy Moyer, pianist/vocalist Bethany Kelly, drummer Joe Richmond (which the group shares with Meese) and bassist Tyler Rima, and set about playing shows and recording. Although the sextet is still finding its legs in a live setting, its auspicious five-song debut captures its spirited folk rock, which is breezy, charming and uplifting at one turn and introspective, pensive and bittersweet at another. Churchill is sure to appeal to fans of acts with decidedly more complicated monikers like Margot & the Nuclear So and So's and Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground.

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