At first blush, Yarn Owl sound perilously similar to other backwoods-embracing, beard-sporting, indie-folk poseurs like Fleet Foxes. In my mind, there is nothing really wrong with those kinds of bands (despite the arguments you could make about their credibility - if credibility need ever really be present in a discussion about music - but that's a whole different can of worms), except for the precious delicacy with which they approach their often anemic work. Yarn Owl, thankfully, shake these comparisons by the second song on their debut LP, Montaña Y Caballo, at the first entrance of electric guitars and jittery keyboard flourishes. Yarn Owl strive for a bigger sound, a more diverse one, and they do well at achieving those goals. It's a reassuring breath of legit pastoral fresh air, which, these days, comes few and far between. 

[Northern, with Takhoma, Camp Wisdom, Benoit Pioulard, 9 p.m., $6, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia]