30 Jul 2012

Does anyone else have ‘music friends’? You know, those friends that live and breathe music the same way you do. The ones that send you that song that ends up being your favorite one. The ones that understand what you love and love to understand you.

I have a few of these. We may not even be particularly close, maybe I even know their musical taste based solely on their facebook posts, but sometimes I will hear a song and think ‘Oh, so and so will love this‘ and I always want to send it to them. I usually do. I’ve written about sharing music before, but there is no better feeling that knowing someone absolutely loved some piece of music that you showed them.

Earlier last week, I showed a song to a friend that had recently posted about the band I’m about to show you. I pointed them in the direction of my favorite song on the album and after a few hours they sent me a message that said ‘Thank you so much for that song, that seriously exploded my heart listening to that, I’m obsessed’. What a compliment, right? And I know exactly how he’s feeling. I know that moment of thinking a song was written just for you, that moment of clarity.

Enter the Lumineers. They’re pretty fresh off the presses, their debut album isn’t even a year old yet, but they are showing up all over the place. They’re part of this great vein of instrumental folk rock like Mumford and Sons and Of Monsters and Men that’s been putting a lot of eclectic instruments back on the mainstream scene;  I’ve never seen so much love for banjos and harmonicas!

I’m going to give you three good songs to wet your whistle with today, but you must promise if you like this that you will check out their entire stunning debut album. The first is called ‘Ho Hey’. It’s no frills folk, excellent gang vocals and sweet as a piece of pecan pie. A love song and a fun song. The second is called ‘Stubborn Love’ and it’s a violin-tinged, melancholy ballad, this here is the chest exploder. And the third is my personal favorite, Dead Sea. A haunting simple metaphor for being someone’s strength, I can’t seem to stop playing this haunting song.

So, please hit play. Get ready to fall in love with a song. And do me a favor? When you do, please tell the person how much you loved their song. I live for that. I love the chest exploding moments, it’s the whole reason I do this job and many others. These songs are my thank you for that. For you, all my friends that I know will love this. But also, for someone a little trickier: all my readers that I don’t know. I hope you’ll love it too.

“I don’t gamble, but if I did I would bet on us. You told me I was like the dead sea, the finest words you ever said to me. You’ll never sink when you’re with me, honey I was born to be your dead sea……….”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQlbUojz89U