Author Archives: Timothy Hudson

Sam Beam is a man who needs no introduction. Over his eight year career he (or rather his stage name Iron & Wine) has reached the point in his career where he is nearly synonymous with the modern folk genre. He plans to change this with his new album “Kiss Each Other Clean.” While 2007’s “The Shepherd’s Dog” was a departure from the acoustic styling of his previous two albums, I have the oddest feeling it will be remembered as the “Bringing It All Back Home” of Iron & Wine’s career. With “Kiss Each Other Clean” Iron & Wine is going electric, and as witnessed by the opening track which was released last Friday, it’s going to be fantastic.

The song—“Walking Far From Home”—has the magnificent lyrics we’ve come to associate with Iron & Wine, but with the added benefit of a polished backing instrumentation rarely seen among most musical acts today. It, much like the previous efforts of Iron & Wine, embodies beauty.

MP3: Iron & Wine – Walking Far From Home

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Previously:
Iron & Wine – Flightless Bird, American Mouth

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San Francisco based indie-rockers Girls made huge impression last September when they released the excellent Album. To follow up their fantastic debut, the duo produced this deeply sad and personal EP, Broken Dreams Club.

While there are no immediately gratifying songs on Broken Dreams Club like Album’s “Lust for Life” or “Laura” on the EP, “Thee Oh So Protective One” sounds nothing like you’ve ever heard from Girls before, and yet still maintains a familiar and comfortable air about its intensely sad lyrics. Single “Heartbreaker” is more of a return to the thematic styles of Album, but it still manages to feel more mature, tighter, and polished.

It’s hard to immediately describe the sound of Girls, but their music has a certain feel to it. It’s as if they have captured the very spirit of San Francisco, and stored it in songs. And that’s a good thing.

Girls – Heartbreaker

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Doing a cool, calm, and mature cover of an otherwise electro-pop song like “Animal” is not a task that many would take. But taking cues from Jónsi’s “Go Quiet” album, Javier Dunn managed to minimalize the otherwise synthesized instrumentation of Miike Snow, and turn it into a beautiful, relaxing, yet remarkably sad song.

Much like the work of aforementioned Jónsi, the song deceptively hides it’s sadness in the beauty of composition and delightful vocals.

Javier Dunn – Animal (Miike Snow Cover)

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Leave it to Cœur De Pirate to make a beautiful song even more beautiful. Hailing from Quebec, she sings in a beautiful French voice that has only gotten better since her debut album. This song, a piano cover of Malajube’s “Étienne D’Août”—captures the feeling of poignant morose in such a beautiful way that you can’t help but contemplate life after listening.

The soft piano and French vocals form together to create this experience that is very similar to Gary Jule’s famous rendition of Mad World. This song is something beautiful, sad, and—despite the language barrier—affecting.

Cœur De Pirate – Étienne D’Août (Live)

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Late last Friday, I was trolling Bandcamp—as I am wont to do—for something to tide me over for the night, when I stumbled upon the sound of this Virginia-based psychedelic folk band called We Are Trees. Once I had heard the instrumentation and vocals on album-opener “Sunrise Sunset” I realized that I had really found something. When I was asked how to describe them, all I could say was “somewhere between Grizzly Bear and Fleet Foxes.” While this may be an exaggeration of sorts, the band truly does sound fantastic.

The string arrangements, the dreamily psychedelic vocals, and the fantastic percussion all form together to make one of the most relaxing and polished EPs I’ve heard from an indie band in a long time. In no track is this more apparent than in “Dear Chan Marshall”—a beautiful song that captures the entire mood of the EP in a short four minutes time.

We Are Trees – Sunrise Sunset

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We Are Trees – Dear Chan Marshall

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When I finished listening to the EP for the second or third time, I realized that about an hour had passed. The next logical step was to share this great find with you, our readers. But I didn’t want to simply write about the EP, I wanted to write about the band, so I decided to interview the lead singer James Nee. What follows is the interview. Enjoy. Continue reading →