In my room with a view I will leave things to keep you occupied because it's colder here than it's outside

2011 has been a good music year and even though I've never cared much about making yearly top 10 lists and the like, I've still been wondering which of the new albums I've enjoyed this year would be my favourite. Well that was before I had my copy of Fight Less, Win More in the letterbox. I've always really liked My Sad Captains, ever since I found their early version of "Bad Decisions" on some blog (sadly I've long since forgotten where, but thank you to whoever you are), had the pleasure of going to a few gigs, and waiting for the second album had felt like an age. With "Orienteers" and "The Homefront Pt.II" available as free songs on their homepage, I instantly got the feeling they had moved on from the more poppy sounds of the earlier days and I wasn't quite sure what to expect, although I guess I was expecting a lot. The more I played these two songs, the more I fell in love and when the album finally arrived I was quite excited.  

And really, the album turned out to be so much more than what I had expected. The first few days, weeks I found it difficult to even play anything else, I always wanted to go back to this wonderful album and play it all over again. Anyone following my listening habits must have thought something was wrong with my player, I'd left it on accidentally or otherwise had gone crazy. Every song on this album reveals its special magic the more times you play it: "Resolutions" is an obvious favourite with the beautiful lyrics and melodic turns, "The Homefront Pt. II" somehow strangely seductive, "Little Joanne" has these really sweet vocal harmonies and "Threes" a song to go back to when it's very late at night but for some reason unknown to yourself you don't want to go to bed yet.
I love both the indie pop sound of the earlier days and this new, perhaps more unique direction. At the same time My Sad Captains have managed to avoid a mistake many bands make when they try to be more experimental, like losing melody or emotion. Instead, along with great melodies and a lot of emotion (the good kind, hidden between the lines), there are more little details to each song, skilful instrumentation (the drumming is excellent!), and of course the vocals: There's just this little something in Ed's voice that touches me every time (I can't quite put my finger on it but I have a feeling it has something to do with this fragile notion that first hit me in 2009 b-side "Made Your Mark").

My Sad Captains official site
My Sad Captains blog
Try My Sad Captains - Orienteers
and/or My Sad Captains - The Homefront Pt. II 

And I see you sleep, I see you sleep next to me

It's been a strange and rainy summer, and perhaps an even stranger autumn, although remarkably less rainy. I've been thinking about the blog a lot (honestly), but things always got in the way. Mind you, I managed to see Pulp play twice, both times too fantastic and surreal to begin trying to put into words. 

In November I've put all my writing energies towards a story that seems more or less stuck for now, probably I've picked the wrong theme at the wrong time, but it was worth the experience anyway. While I'm waiting for an idea to save this story or a new project to turn my hands to, I might as well continue the blog (and hopefully manage to keep going throughout life's other distractions).

The strangeness of the cold and dark late autumn days is captured perfectly in Amor de Días' album Street of the Love of Days. The band, that is primarily Alasdair MacLean of one of my all time favourites The Clientele, and Lupe Núñez-Fernández of indie pop duo Pipas, quietly worked on this beautiful debut over the course of three years. The result shines with rich imagery, bilingual lyrics and varied soft instrumentation.I really love the sound of both their voices on this album, especially when they mix as beautifully as they do in the haunting "Dream (Dead Hands)". I'd still like Alasdair to continue with The Clientele as well, but in the meantime, make sure you give Amor de Días a listen. (And yes, I know it's winter now, but hey - there's "Wild Winter Trees" with the line which gave this entry its name, and sometimes makes me stop breathing for a moment).

Amor de Días official site
Try Amor de Días - Bunhill Fields