Taking it Back

Let's go historical here for a minute. I mean, not medieval, exactly, but close.

Early August: I join Attempts at Hip. In my first post, I note that I'm a devotee of "chilled-out, acoustic, pseudo-philosophical" music. In that post, I deliver chilled-out, acoustic, pseudo-philosophical music in the form of Lakeland band Joon.

Late August: I move to Seattle to start graduate school. In my first post from the West Coast, I share one-woman band Blue Roses - which is very, very chilled out, acoustic, and pseudo-philosophical.

Mid October: I deliver, for y'all's entertainment and edification, another one-woman band, this time from Seattle: Tiny Vipers. Another acoustic endeavour, Tiny Vipers is the nom de plume of Jessy Fortino, who is signed to Sub Pop Records (making her a bit more mainstream than I would usually write about, but her stuff is so immediately, urgently awesome that I couldn't resist).

The best way I can think of to describe Tiny Vipers is something along the lines of a compelling, urgent sereness; Fortino's voice isn't the strongest I've ever heard, but it melds hypnotically with the sparse guitar arrangements she creates. This is really high-quality stuff, and I'd urge you all to take a listen.

Tiny Vipers - Development


Tiny Vipers - Time Takes


Have a great afternoon!

I'm in Seattle! So... here's a band from the UK!

And by 'band' I mean it's one girl, Laura Groves. And she's awesome.

Groves, performing as 'Blue Roses', makes use of guitar, piano, and her spectacular voice - a pure, girlish soprano that, especially when layered as it is on 'Cover Your Tracks", the second song I'm embedding in this post, floats with magnificent innocence around the organic, almost minimalist accompaniment - to create some really, really amazing music. She says on her MySpace page that she likes "writing songs for instruments I can't play yet and making choirs out of my voice." She does it well. I've embedded the first two tracks from her self-titled debut album.

Blue Roses - Greatest Thoughts


Blue Roses - Cover Your Tracks


In an update from me... I flew out to Seattle today. It was a long trip, but went smoothly. Tomorrow, I'll be looking at apartments, trying to find a place to live for the upcoming year or more. Friday night, I'll (hopefully) be heading over to catch a show by The Katherine Moore Situation - I'll let y'all know how that goes.

Have a great night!