Daughter of a Rocky Mountain dynamite salesman, songwriter Sera Cahoone got her musical start on the drums at twelve years old. At twenty-one she left Colorado in favor of Seattle, Washington’s gloomy skies and drummed for, among others, now-defunct indie favorites Carissa’s Wierd, L.A. musician Patrick Park, and on Band of Horses’ debut, Everything All the Time.

In 2006, Cahoone decided to step out from the cymbals and snare and focus on singing, songwriting, and guitar playing, skills she’d been honing for nearly 15 years on her own. The fruit of her newfound dedication was Sera Cahoone (2006), her self-released first album of thoughtful country songs that was lauded by indie-rock tastemaker KEXP-FM in Seattle along with NPR. And The Stranger called Sera’s debut “…a breathtaking collection of sad and dusky songs that reveal an artist of remarkable depth as well as a truly stunning voice.”

On Only as the Day Is Long, the airy gentleness of the arrangements is counterweighted by tension in the lyrics. “I know I’m safe for now, but I know the rest is on its way,” she sings on the title song. Time and again, characters mired in the present cast either skeptical or hopeful eyes on the future: “It’s got to get better than this” (“Runnin’ Your Way”), “I wish this night would pass on by” (“Shitty Hotel”), “Time’s been moving too fast” (“You’re Not Broken”). Only as the Day Is Long, Sera Cahoone’s quiet, country-noirish second album and Sub Pop debut is out March 18, 2008.