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