Lake Trout

Although the all-inclusive “jam band” label has created a musical community that stretches from the Southern rock sounds of Widespread Panic to the jazz-funk grooves of Medeski, Martin and Wood to the bluegrass amblings of the Yonder Mountain String Band, the term fails to paint a consistent picture of style beyond an obvious slant toward improvisation. Take, for instance, the Baltimore-born experimental outfit Lake Trout. After moving away from its initial jazz-funk-flavored efforts, the quintet — consisting of bassist James Griffith, guitarist Ed Harris, drummer Mike Lowry, saxophonist Matt Pierce, and guitarist and vocalist Woody Ranere — embraced live electronica before plunging headlong into the dark recesses of Sonic Youth-inspired aural explorations. The group’s latest disc, the eerily brooding Another One Lost, might just represent its final break from its jam-band origins.