Feathers are four girls from Brisbane creating infectious lo-fi dream-pop. While some of their songs are lively and upbeat, a large number are darker and based on harmony rather than rhythm. Hunter’s Moon is an album full of different moods and well-executed hooks, not to mention some great vocal performances that are far from gender-specific.

I’m generally a fan of music where the singer’s gender is indistinguishable, like the recently featured Black Partridge. Upon my first listening of “Darklands” I did not realize it was an all-girl group. The poppy guitar deliveries are reminiscent of bands like Girls and Malajube, and the vocals tout a similar punch as well, but the gender was still enjoyably indiscernible. The majority of Feathers’ songs are hazy pop gems with plenty of replay appeal and “Darklands” is no exception.

Feathers utilize many intricately evolving harmonies that resound with an art-rock punch. This tactic helps to give them a full sound, almost as if their voices are making up for the absence of an orchestra. “Early Morning” begins with a collective voice. The song is much slower than tracks like “Darklands”, with a chill intentionally drawn-out vibe, whereas “Cruel For Love” applies a rhythm section reminiscent of post-punk greats like Joy Division.

I look forward to seeing what Feathers release next. A comfortable and dazed album is always in high demand for those lazy days, and along with the likes of Beach House and Toro y Moi this group could be your next best bet.

RIYL: Beach House, Joy Division, Girls, Malajube, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sleater-Kinney, Twin Sister, Grizzly Bear, Wild Nothing, Best Coast, Beach Fossils, Cults, Tennis

MP3: Feathers – Darklands

MP3: Feathers – Cruel For Love

Feathers – Early Morning

Official Site

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Treefight for Sunlight is an apt name for the Danish four-piece. Well, the Sunlight part at least. Their sun-drenched, euphoric harmonies emit every existing positive emotion.  When their eponymous debut album was released earlier this year, I assumed it would be thrown into the spotlight and serve as one of the year’s most praised alternative releases. For reasons that I cannot understand, this was not the case.

When jumping into their unique sound of ecstatic summer pop, it’s easy to think of The Beach Boys, The Zombies, Beach House, and MGMT, all uniting their sounds to create an accessible sense of pop-laden euphoria. They combine falsetto vocals with dreamy compositions that transport you to the happiest place in the world.  They somehow create this magical effect with just their voices, a keyboard, guitar, bass and drums. At this point, I don’t want you to get the wrong impression; they’re not cheesy. They make glorious pop music in a way that still retains rawness and creativity.

Some songs do stand out more than others. Among a few, “What Became of You and I?” always sticks out as a strong number. The precise and tight drumming from Mathias Sørensen puts all focus on the trance-like, catchy melody beautifully carried out by Christian Rohde Lindinger. He also demonstrated the power of his voice when I saw the band live; they played a note-for-note cover of the Kate Bush classic, “Wuthering Heights”. It was phenomenal. “Facing the Sun” was the first single and epitomizes the entire album. Its upbeat tempo and complex rhythms, combined with jovial riffs and catchy vocals, make for a track that never fails to put you in a good mood.

One song is an oddity, in that it isn’t in the same style as the rest of the jolly album. “Tambourhinocerous Jam” is a conciisely dark instrumental, tambourine-based jam. Usually, I would put this down to pure pretentiousness; however it fits in well with the record. It keeps you alert and stops you losing interest in the golden formula that the band seems to have found. Any darkness left from that track is quickly hidden away by the familiar brightness of “Riddles and Rhymes” with its fantastic climax of an ending.

On the whole, Treefight for Sunlight is one that is an instant source of upbeat optimism. From the explosions of pure ecstasy at the start of “The Universe Is a Woman” to the enchanting tone of the guitar in “Facing the Sun”, it is clear that these four young Danes posses huge amounts of talent as instrumentalists and songwriters. Regularly playing and writing music together since they were children has, without a doubt, paid off.

RIYL: The Beach Boys, The Zombies, Beach House, MGMT, Kate Bush, Figurines, Gruff Rhys, Sea of Bees, Wild Nothing, Twin Sister, Tennis, Lower Dens

Treefight for Sunlight – What Became Of You And I?

Treefight for Sunlight – Facing the Sun

Treefight for Sunlight – Time Stretcher

Treefight for Sunlight – Wuthering Heights (live)

Official Site / MySpace / BUY

The post Treefight for Sunlight appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

December’s features were cut short by the ‘Best Albums‘ feature, so I decided to cram two months into one for this compilation. I think it makes this one twice as good as the average one on here, headlined by the first big successes of 2011. Destroyer, Smith Westerns, British Sea Power, and Cut Copy are the first big names to release an album in 2011, all doing so with critical acclaim. Three of the four are featured in this month’s compilation with some of the highlights from those releases. Add to that some new efforts by other familiar faces like Memory Tapes, Akron/Family, and Times New Viking and there is little to complain about thus far. If 2011 continues in a positive direction like this, we could all be in for a great year.

Even aside from the popular names, other names like Woodsman, Grass Widow, and Tennis are generating buzz as well. There is yet to be a breakout new star in 2011, but a couple of these artists produced exceptional debuts and sophomore releases that should provide them with some well-deserved recognition. I’m just hoping that February comes and goes quickly… in my opinion, it’s easily the worst month of the year. The weather absolutely sucks, the only sport on TV is basketball, and illnesses are flying around with malicious intent. I was unlucky enough to catch one early last week and am still battling it. The last time I was sick before this? Last February. There’s just something about the month that makes my body weak. Good thing music is not affected by the miserable qualities of a given month. It’s one of the only things that acts as an enjoyable compass in times like these.

01. Destroyer – Chinatown (post)
02. Smith Westerns – All Die Young (post)
03. British Sea Power – Mongk II (post)
04. Akron/Family – So It Goes (post)
05. Bullion – I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times (Beach Boys) (post)
06. Memory Tapes – Today Is Our Life (post)
07. Times New Viking – No Room to Live (post)
08. Woodsman – I Can’t Move (post)
09. Soft Landing – Pendleton Woolen (post)
10. Young Prisms – I Don’t Get Much (post)
11. Grass Widow – Fried Egg (post)
12. The Mountain Goats – Damn These Vampires (post)
13. Tennis – Pigeon (post)
14. Young Galaxy – We Have Everything (post)

DOWNLOAD ENTIRE COMPILATION>>> (91.2 MB, .RAR)

The post Obscure Sound: Best of Dec./Jan. ’11 appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

Bill Baird treats his fans well. He maintains a dedicated following that, if his new album Loveshines But The Moon Is Shining Too is any indication, should increase exponentially shortly. Baird appears quite kind to fans as well, as his tireless work ethic and dedication caught my attention in 2008, when he released two full-lengths in the span of five months. The quality of those two albums, Bright Blue Dream and The Glowing City, led me to the official release of Pink Clouds. Its first incarnation was as a cassette Baird had given to about 100 friends. But after one copy leaked, the band’s work ethic and dedication came out when they decided to re-release it in its true form. Their small but dedicated following deserved the best, at least according to the members of then-named {{{Sunset}}}. Baird and the rest of that group have been hard at work since then, dropping the ‘{{{‘ and ‘}}}’ from their name and sounding even better.

The shifting lineup that is Sunset appears to be in constant variation, but there are never signs of rustiness. Baird released a Sunset album last year entitled Gold Dissolves to Gray, but to me it sounded like a jumbled point of indecision between playful psychedelia and stabs at atmospherically-bound electronica. It sounded pretty and graceful, but pop hooks represent one of Baird’s most pronounced strength and there simply were not enough of them throughout Gold Dissolves to Gray. His fifth full-length, Loveshines But The Moon Is Shining Too, is different though. Baird’s grasp on delicate pop is still there, as his vocals never escalate with great authority despite emitting harmonious bliss, but the music benefits more from elements of pop that coincide with his twinkling vein of neo-psychedelia and folk. Experimentation is present but not to the extent of his previous effort, where fascination ad intrigue occasionally prevailed over common sense.

Loveshines But The Moon Is Shining Too gets on the right track immediately with opening “Heavy Light”, a track the combines the wintery, echoey key-laden allure of The Walkmen with the slick guitar-key harmonic collab that ’70s pop artists like Electric Light Orchestra perfected. Baird’s unique voice is as present as ever, shifting through an array of infectious coos and grunt-like tones that resemble both Neil Hannon and Beck, depending on the verse. Comparisons to other artists may be more evident here than on other Sunset releases, if only because Baird is less consumed with crafting an entirely unique sound and more focused on writing excellent pop songs. This is seen especially on tracks like “Heavy Light” and “Late Night Dawning”, the latter of which stars Crystal Fulbright and Red Hunter on vocals in a touching performance that really plays on Baird’s repeated use of tremolo. The accompaniments behind it, both on vocals and strings, are extraordinary and fully representative of Baird’s compositional prowess.

Seeing as how the original version of “Loveshines” was a song that I enjoyed and posted, it is no surprise that the original catches my attention as well. Its sequel though, “Loveshines II”, is even better. Baird slams on the keys with vigor, allowing the pulsating tremolo to eventually become engaged in a wonderful chorus that hearkens back to The Beatles’ psychedelic ballads in its outstanding use of strings. It sounds mysterious and enjoyably vintage, yet remains crisp enough to fit within Sunset’s arsenal of indie-pop and psychedelia. Baird has accomplished great things here, and it is certainly worth hearing.

RIYL: Electric Light Orchestra, Beck, The Walkmen, Brazos, The Bitters, Still Corners, Golden Ages, Grimes, Family Portrait, Pill Wonder, Tennis, Pearl Harbor, The Mantles, Pepi Ginsberg, Twin Sister, Summer Camp, Happy Birthday, Golden Triangle, Pure Ecstasy, Aska, The Delta Mirror

MP3: Sunset – Heavy Light

MP3: Sunset – Late Night Dawning

Official Site

Autobus Records

BUY

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