It Is Rain In My Face – Wishbone
It Is Rain In My Face is the super chilled electronic folk project from Brooklyn musician Matthew Jones. Through layered production and impressive creativity, these simple folk songs are transformed into gorgeous pieces of dream pop. Jones has a unique soul voice that swirls through these tracks with a lulling dream-like quality and he is not afraid to experiment with it. Mostly it drifts through these songs as a sweet falsetto though in other places he distorts his vocal beyond recognition or drops his tone to sound like a hardend blues man. A beautiful blending of electronic and acoustic sounds.
White Birds – White Birds
Recently there has been a surge of bands adapting the sounds of early soul and R ‘n B and applying it to modern indie rock (see BCH favourites Shimmering Stars and Die Jungen). From the opening guitar riffs and shrill harmonies of “Hondora”, it is apparent White Birds belong to this club. The influence of the past is more subtle with this Philadelphia band however, displaying a distinctive pop sound on these four tracks. “Bee Hive” is a dense slice of perfectly refined psychedelica while closer “Veins Lined with Rust” shows the band can also pull off lovely lo-fi folk.
Several Girls Galore – Cross This Wide Country
As the title suggests, this is a true road trip album from Several Girls Galore. These are terrific rock songs that have a strong sense of hope and redemption. Will Vunderink is a fine songwriter, penning complex lyrics that never sound laboured. His laid back vocal combines beautifully with the relentless guitar rock throughout this album. At times the sound relies a little to heavily on the quiet-loud-quiet dynamic, though when the music is this this good it hardly matters. Put the top down and let the good times roll.
