Fauxliage - "Fauxliage": Leigh Nash! :) This is kind of an under-the-radar project that she did last year with a couple of musicians from Delerium (who featured her as a guest vocalist on a couple of their albums.) Her voice is unmistakeable, though, and when I heard a track from them on an iTunes radio station, the band name couldn't hide who was singing (neither could Sixpence None The Richer, for that matter.)
This is a lovely little chill album which you could play for hours and not tire of. Her vocals float over the synth and drum like a heron riding the wind. Beautiful. I love every track, even the remixes of Rafe, but the standouts to me are Someday the Wind, Let it Go, Without You.
Death Cab For Cutie - "Narrow Stairs": I know, I reviewed these guys not long ago, but... the older stuff. Their live concert sort of put me off to their new album. But, thanks to Amazon's daily deals, I picked it up for $5 last week. It's way better than the live version was! :) I really like this. It's nowhere near as pop-py, true, but it's still Ben Gibbert singing, and it grows on you. Favorites: I Will Possess Your Heart, Cath..., You Can Do Better Than Me, Long Division, Your New Twin Sized Bed, The Ice Is Getting Thinner. Good, good, CD.
Rilo Kiley - "Under The Black Light", "More Adventurous", "The Execution of All Things": This band is one that's pretty versatile when it comes to material, at least when seen over the course of their career. There's some straight pop, some alt-country, some emo, some mainstream alternative (what an oxymoron), some quirky stuff, some dance, even. On the earlier CDs, once in a while a song has a language issue, but those simply... don't make the playlist.
The albums have gotten more polished and less raw as they've gone along, with "UTBL" (the latest) being the most pop/dance/club-oriented and consistent of the three. I also like it best, (and their early, "evolution" one, least.) :) I do have kind of an emotional attachment to "More Adventurous", though, for the title track, and also because I like Jenny Lewis' voice when she's sounding like a country singer, which she does fairly often on that CD. She and Leigh Nash are both really good with a pedal steel behind them.
Besides More Adventurous, favorites tracks are: from "TEOAT", the title track, Capturing Moods, Hail To Whatever You Found In The Sunlight That Surrounds You. From "More Adventurous" I also liked Does He Love You?, Portions For Foxes, I Never, A Man/Me/Then Jim, It Just Is. From "UTBL", the title track (again! Guess they choose good titles..), Close Call, Breakin' Up, Dreamworld, Smoke Detector, The Angels Hung Around, Give a Little Love.
Lowen & Navarro - "Broken Moon", "Walking On A Wire": A recommendation from SQ, this folk/rock duo put out some good work in the early 1990's, and they are really easy to warm up to. Great hooks, comfortable harmonies, solid melody, good lyrics. Nothing all that challenging, but a lot that is emotive without being emo. ;)
Favorites: from WOAW, the title track, plus Seven Bridges, Somewhere Far Away, C'est La Vie. From Broken Moon... um... everything? This is a CD I can listen to over and over and not get tired of it. I suppose that the ones that rise to the surface are ones I connect with lyrically (read: tears escape.): Maybe Later, Constant As The Night, Just To See You, Not Like You.
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