The days of putting "Wolf" in the band name are not over. But in this case, that's totally okay, because here's Sad Baby Wolf, the new band of former Shin Marty Crandall, who was "let go" from the band back in 2010. (Crandall's history has been well documented on this site.)

Crandall lived here in Portland for a while, but he's since moved back to his home town of Albuquerque and joined forces with another former Shin, Neal Langford, to form Sad Baby Wolf. Marty's brother Maury Crandall plays drums, Sean McCullough plays bass, and Jason Ward plays guitar. I do not know what instruments all those spooky little ghosts in the picture play.

LISTEN:

Sad Baby Wolf - "8th Level"

And here's a song! And it's great! It will appear on Sad Baby Wolf's upcoming debut album, which comes out later this year. I think this is excellent—a nuggety, tumbling pop-rock number with fine guitar work and production that gets more ethereal as the song goes on. You can also hear another Sad Baby Wolf song over on Under the Radar.

With Crandall's band as well as another former Shin, Dave Hernandez (also of Scared of Chaka), doing fine things with his band Little Cuts, the Shins are turning into one of those groups for whom Pete Frame could diagram a family tree.