BestNewBands.com’s Portland correspondent Liz Livengood raved about local act Typhoon back in April, saying the 12-person band “can only be described as epic,” and that “seeing them live was a treat.” (Check out Liz’s review here.) After hearing such high praise, as well as kind words from NPR and The Chicago Tribune, I’m that much more excited to catch the band at this year’s Sasquatch! Music Festival. Read on for more on Typhoon and a mini-interview with lead singer Kyle Morton.

Paste Magazine said it best: “Portland’s Typhoon is an indie rock geek’s dream: a dynamic 12-piece with a seemingly unending reservoir of energy, emotive vocals, arpeggiated guitars, horns, multiple drum kits and strings … Ladies and gentlemen, meet your new critical darlings.” Typhoon made serious waves (figuratively, and maybe also literally) at SXSW earlier this year, and has even bigger plans lined up for the rest of the year, which lead singer Kyle Morton shares at the end of his Q&A below.

Typhoon’s latest EP, A New Kind of House, was released in April and received kind remarks from various media: NPR said the album was “absolutely stunning” and “so beautiful, it makes me want to follow every single thing Typhoon does,” while The Chicago Tribune said “the group’s mix of strings, brass and multi-part vocal harmonies was stirring, as arrangements swung from hushed hymn-like passages to exultant crescendos.”

Check out “The Honest Truth” from A New Kind of House:

Typhoon’s Kyle Morton answered a brief Q&A email for me – here’s what he had to say of his band’s upcoming Sasquatch! appearance:

Monica Christoffels: What are some things you’d like all your fans, old and new, to know about you?
Kyle Morton: There have been a lot of different rumors flying around.  Just to set the record straight: Yes, we are all related, either by blood or through marriage; and Yes, all of us live on a large estate in the country for most of the year where we ride motorcycles around.
MC: Have you played at Sasquatch! before? If so, when, how was it like, etc.? If not, what are your feelings coming into the Festival?
KM: Never been; grateful to have been invited.
MC: What can fans expect from your performance?
KM: Operatic themes on violence and mortality played by a kind of poor-man’s orchestra.
MC: What else is coming up for your band?
KM: We’re excited to do the whole festival circuit: Newport Folk Festival, Osheaga, Lollapalooza.  Also, it’s our immense privilege to be going on tour with the Decemberists in July.

Typhoon will be playing at noon Sunday, May 29, on the Bigfoot stage. Keep up with the band on Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter.