Country, Americana, Folk, Power Pop, Indie Pop
Finnish folk rock band Skip Zone released a surprise single Nobody Cries on the 3rd of February and it’s pretty damn good. Ok, the statement of that title isn’t entirely true, because I did shed a few tears when I first heard this beauty early on Saturday afternoon. I will not hold that against them. What a great song.
Matt Dorrien is a songwriter from Portland, Oregon who has previously released music under the name Snowblind Traveler. It took me a long while to find his music and it was maybe about a year ago when I stumbled upon Snowblind Traveler on some web article that introduced Portland-based artists. After that I bought a download of the second album Confederate Burial and found it rather remarkable. I highly recommend the Snowblind Traveler material, if you were as clueless or badly informed as I was when they came out some years ago.
The current and at the moment far more relevant information is that Matt Dorrien has abondened the Snowblind Traveler moniker at least for the time being and is getting ready to release an achingly beautiful album under his own name. In The Key Of Grey is due out on 13th of April on Mama Bird Recording Co. I’ve spent hours of listening to it today. First at work while packing potatoes, then on the drive home and now I’ve been lying on this bed for hours with these songs as my company. Some might say that’s a waste of an evening, but I can’t agree with that assessment. I’ve loved every second I’ve spent with this charming piano-driven album. Sure it’s kinda sad and melancholic, but so am I more often than that I would like to admit. So we’ll get by just fine by leaning on each other. This is timeless music that echoes the work of maestros like Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman and carries on even further into the rich history of american songwriting tradition. However, I think I’m jumping the gun a bit now. The plan was just to share the first outtake from the forthcoming album and leave the far bigger praising and the announcing of my engagement with the song I Can’t Remember to the release week. Sorry for getting a little carried away. This is Baby I’m So Lost from the forthcoming Matt Dorrien album In The Key of Grey.
Two of my songwriting heroes, Will Johnson and Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster, have a new album out under the moniker Marie/Lepanto. Probably one should avoid combining the words super and group when talking about these type of projects, but hey there’s no way of denying it either. It’s rather superb indeed to see a couple of music wizards joining forces to create a stunning new album together. I’m not entirely sure is this just a less significant side project for them, but even if it is, it certainly doesn’t feel like that for the listener, because the songwriting is powerful and sublime throughout the record. The album is not that close to Water Liars or Centro-Matic and instead more like a gentle collision of their latest solo albums where Will’s passionate delivery adds some spark and edge to Justin Peter’s indie folk beauty. Their different voices work beautifully together and the album turns out to be a small treasure. Tenkiller came out on 26th of January on Big Legal Mess.
Simon Linsteadt is a folk songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from California. I’ve been vaguely familiar with his work for a few years, but haven’t really properly introduced my heart to his songs. I think I need to up my game on that front, because he just put out a new record called February and I’ve been more than a little bit obsessed with the beautiful opening song Pickleweed. Such an enchanting song that echoes the warm sounds of early 70s folk songs. Simply irresistible.