It’s easy to like the music of Hey Marseilles, an eclectic seven-piece folk-pop band born in the UW residence halls and now playing gigs here and there around the country. The group’s 2008 debut album, To Travels and Trunks, was well received critically and in November they released their second disc and download, Elegy (www.heymarseilles.com).

The band’s name, says founding member and group lyricist Matt Bishop, ’05, “embodies the sound we were creating. And I really like rhyming so I added the ‘Hey.’”

Three of the seven earned degrees at the UW. Bishop (B.A., English literature, 2005) handles lead vocals with Jacob Anderson (B.A., Finance, 2008) on viola and Philip Kobernik (B.A., Business Administration, minor in Ethnomusicology, 2009) on accordion and keys. Rounding out the group: Sam Anderson on cello and bass, Patrick Brannon on trumpet, Colin Richey on drums and Nick Ward, who also attended the UW, on electric guitar.

“We’re trying to make something people across the country will listen to,” he says. —Peter Kelley