Admittedly, I sometime search for coverage of emerging local bands I like on other (more) established music sites like Brooklynvegan, Stereogum and Pitchfork. When I do this, I secretly hope I won't find any, so that one day I'll be able to proudly say: "we were the first ones to cover these guys!"
Ah, the vanity of pride...
Today I decided to do the same with Pearl & The Beard, a band that's not very new, but that has been - without any doubts - one of the most interesting, entertaining and followed NYC based alt-folk acts for at least 2 or 3 years now. To my surprise, neither Pitchfork nor Stereogum ever published anything whatsoever about them, which in my book is almost a scandal. This not only makes us proud of the coverage we've been giving to them, but is also very telling about how quality is not always rewarded in the online publications perceived as the "truth holders" of indie music. Luckily there's NPR, who premiered the band's beautiful new video, check it out here.
We've always been big fans of Luke Temple, and it's good to see that, together with the Here We Go Magic crew, the man is keeping at it with increasingly beautiful records and videos. The band's new album "A Different Ship" (stream it here) will be out on May 8, and betrays at least a partial return to Luke Temple's more intimate and melodic sound from his solo repertoire - in this regard, lend a ear to "Hard to Be Close," "Alone but Moving" and "Over the Ocean". This is welcome news for fans like us who always thought that in most HWGM material Luke's noteworthy songwriting skills seemed a little sacrificed on the altar of textural experimentation. This doesn't mean that the band's signature hypnotic, impressionistic sound is lost - it's just that these two elements work together better than they did in past records, and this is what makes this album one of the NYC highlights of the year so far. Indeed, this collection also features songs more in line with the band's past releases ("Make Up your Mind", "I Believe in Action"), which follow on the steps of brainy-pop icons like Brian Eno and The Feelies, but there's definitely a balance here, also betrayed by the almost perfect alternation of melodic songs and less traditional ones.The just released video of "How Do I Know," telling the story of a rejected dancing robot that ends up revitalizing an older man's appreciation for life, seems to reflect on this brain/heart, mechanic/organic dichotomies and somehow bring them to unity. - PDG
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