Busting free of categories, pigeonholes and genres since 2012, Stoney Spring is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Anthony Lacques. Before venturing out on his own, Anthony was the co-founder, drummer and one of the principal songwriters for the acclaimed cosmic country band, I See Hawks in LA. Now with a fifth album, A Team Of Oxen Approaching Light Speed, just completed, Stoney Spring continues to expand its catalog of soulful, genre-defying songs that blend biting but playful social criticism with bold, rootsy, experimental rock that echoes with influences ranging from Captain Beefheart and The Band to Wire and The Minutemen.

While Anthony’s drumming, piano, vocals and guitar anchor the band’s recordings, the sound is fleshed out with ace musical collaborators including his compatriots from I See Hawks in LA: brother Paul Lacques on lap steel and guitar, and Rob Waller taking lead vocals on many of the tracks. On the latest album, Hawks bassist (and former Strawberry Alarm Clock singer) Paul Marshall takes lead vocals on one song and provides gorgeous harmonies on another. Jimi Hawes, former bassist with Sly and The Family Stone, rounds out the fat, raw sounds—all mixed and mastered as usual by Grammy-winning engineer Alfonso Rodenas.

With each album, from the raw indie folk of debut Right On Heliotrope! to the deep dive psychedelia of Don’t Let Me Die At Coco’s, Stoney Spring earns critical praise, wins over a handful of devoted fans, and draws comparisons to other outsider artists including Daniel Johnston and Shuggie Otis. Lyrically, Stoney Spring has been plumbing the hypocrisy of our “sleek, sexy, crumbling civilization” since the first single “Jobs,” blasted our technology-obsessed, AI-driven society back in 2012 (long before it became a topic of general discussion). Funny and barbed, but never preachy, songs like Rejecting The Machine, I Like All Peoples, Chasing An Abstract Dream, and Don’t Let Me Die At Coco’s are joyous battle cries for an earthier, more human way of life that defies the creeping menace of a materialist techno-apocalypse. You know, that type of thing.

Along the way, Anthony has managed to sneak some of his songs into the movies and TV, from scoring a History Channel documentary on cattle ranching, to co-writing the closing-titles song for the indie cult movie Pumpkin, starring Christina Ricci.