Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Sons and Daughters

If you haven't been listening to the Decemberists, Cousin I think you might be missing out. I had already stumbled across them a couple of years ago, specifically 2 other songs from The Crane Wife, their first "big label" album. I'm sure I found them on NPR's All Songs Considered, where they topped the charts in 2006's "Best Album of the Year" alongside no less than Regina Spektor, Tom Waits, Dylan and Neko Case (NB: NPR listeners have great taste, always a good way to find new stuff).

But as chance and life would have it, I never followed up on that find, and missed out on this gem until it popped up on my Littlest Birds station on Pandora. This may or may not be your genre, but it is tight, energetic, lilting, and just plain good. By the time the quavery lead voice and the cymbals and the music crescendo in to the last 30 seconds, I just can't help but smile. Plain old feel-good music.

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