If the Steve Miller Band met the Flaming Lips and jammed down at the dock by the cottage, odds are it would sound a little like The Big East, who fly under the self-coined banner of ‘cottage rock’, combining elements of mellow gold, timeless rock and indie pop. They hail from the Lake and Cottage area of North Toronto where the winters are bitter cold but the summer months give birth to a thriving local music scene. Their name is derived from the river that flows through the region where principal members James Jones and Kip Daynard live and their connection to their roots doesn’t end there. Their local community was integral in shaping the sound of their sophomore LP, Hungry Ghosts, which features the many talents of their peers including veteran Canadian producer Andre Wahl. Hungry Ghosts is a play on the Buddhist saying which refers to human beings who are driven by emotional needs in an animalistic way. “We applied this concept to our intense need to create music” Jones asserts. And create music they did. Producer Wahl helped the band whittle their 40 demos down to the eleven featured tracks which play to the band’s strengths - rich harmony over tight playing, complete with soaring soft rock hooks.