Radar Brothers...

Are you down with The Radar Brothers? If not then it's time to get on board. I wasn't a huge fan of their last record, though I bought it; And The Surrounding Mountains felt like a rocket that didn't have quite enough power to break gravity's pull. But The Fallen Leaf Pages has converted me to the vision. What a wonderful listen. The album is powerful in the same way that Iron & Wine is powerful. It's the ability to demand attention, to make people stop and gawk without having to crank the volume up to 15. It's about subtlety, talent, good hooks. The Radar Brothers seem to be able to translate melancholy into sound, but don't think that every song on The Fallen Leaf Pages is a big cry fest. Lyrically speaking the songs are more slice of life than slice of the wrists. It's also not a musically downbeat affair. I love the way "Papillion" builds upon itself growing from gentle piano balladry to a swirling mix of drums, guitar, strings and a whistling solo that's pretty cool in the context of the song but can't touch Andrew Bird's work with air and lips. The actual growing structure of the song as moves through its 4 mintues and 40 seconds is at least half the fun for me, though the fact that it's hummable and melodic keeps me coming back.

1 song from The Fallen Leaf Pages:

Papillion