Friday, May 8, 2009

M. Ward and Camera Obscura

First up Camera Obscura's latest - My Maudlin Career. To me they sound exactly like Belle and Sebastian crossed with the Beach Boys. Strings, lush harmonies, wa-wa guitar, and lovely vocals. Great summer tunes from this Scottish band - they've been around for a while, but this is my first taste.

My Maudlin Career




This is M. Ward - Matt Ward - a singer-songwriter from Portland. He has a really nice blend of sounds going on in his utterly simple, harmonic and melodic music. He oscillates between country, blues, folk, a hint of reggae, with some rock thrown in for good measure. Mostly though he puts together some excellent harmonies and his haunting vocals are pretty compelling. I keep trying to peg what who he reminds me of, but he's sort of a shape shifter, so it's no one sound - Joe Henry is as close as I can get. Regardless, it's nice listening.

Hold Time

2 comments:

Brandon said...

Jailbird is a really well done song, and Rave On is a close second. Interesting to hear him go "pop" - seems like everyone is these days.

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