Ed Laurie: Meanwhile in the Park

Ed Laurie: Meanwhile in the Park (dangerbird records)

Acoustic, folk, singer-song writer; Leonard Cohen, Bon Iver, Jose Gonzalez

This British artist got known through the Internet and later this year (2009) dangerbird records will release his first full-length album. He has a soft, warm voice and he plays the guitar Spanish style, adding Brazilian and other Latin rhythms to his calm, melancholic songs. He definitely opens new paths to the singer-song writer’s line of work.

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NPR

Barcelona: Absolutes

Barcelona: Absolutes (Universal/Motown)

Indie rock, “piano rock,” Death Cab for Cutie, Copeland

This is the debut album by this four-piece band from Seattle, WA. (Actually it’s a re-release of a 2007 production, with added tracks.) Piano harmonies and guitar driven riffs, plus Brian Fennel’s voice (who also is the song writer) are the backbone of these songs that sometimes sound like power pop ones.

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Museé Mécanique: Hold this Ghost

Museé Mécanique: Hold this Ghost (Frog Stand Records)

Indie, folk rock, Andrew Bird, Sufjan Stevens

This five-piece is not from France but from Portland, OR, and this is their debut album. Accordion, keyboards, strings and bells plus melancholic voices create mesmerizing tunes that will take you to graveyards, empty streets, and other places populated with old polaroids and ghosts (like the Wright brothers’ in track 3, “The Propellors”). Perfect album title and perfect band name: Museé Mécanique is a museum in San Francisco of old music boxes. And this band sounds like a giant symphonic music box.

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Museé Mécanique