Artist: Anchor & Braille
Album: Felt
Release: August 2009
Genres: Pop/Rock, Indie Rock, other pretend genres
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AllMusic · SoundCloud · last.fm
And here is a semi-relevant playlist on YouTube.
Note: this was a staff pick on what.cd about a day ago, which is how I heard it, so if you have an account there it's freeleech at the moment. If you don't, get a fucking account there. Seriously.
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SIMILAR ARTISTS
Hard to say! I've only heard this album once, actually just about an hour ago. It was awesome and seemed to work well for #weeklydj, but I'd need to listen to it again a few times to tell you what it reminded me of. last.fm has some links to similar artists if you're into that sort of thing. If you know Anberlin and/or Stephen Christian, then you're looking at his solo project. That's all I got. I tend to discourage judging an album on what it sounds like until you've heard it enough for it to stand on its own, anyway.
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BIO
- Fans of Stephen Christian and Aaron Marsh will likely approach Anchor & Braille’s Felt with the highest of expectations. Luckily for those followers, their anticipations are rewarded in full, as the record is a stunning achievement. It is a labor of love in the truest sense of the phrase, and it certainly shows. You can hear Christian bleeding for these songs, and it is the sort of passion that elicits goosebumps from listeners ready to be swept up on an emotional journey. It is hard to say if Christian and Marsh will ever compile another record under the Anchor & Braille name, but if not, we will all be thankful to at least have this.
- Steve Henderson @ absolutepunk.net
That's the bio ClosingTime from what.cd linked. It doesn't say a lot. I would add that what I liked so much about Felt on first listen is the sort of choral feel the sweeping strings and Christian's haunting voice lent. Gave the album a soothing, ambient feel overlaid with tragedy. And the delivery of the lyric "You're so shy don't know what you're worth/But you're worth so much more/More than any song could implore" -- tragically upbeat. Or the scream of "Just want you to make sense to me tonight..."
The bottom line is I don't find an album that speaks to me immediately like this very often. Enjoy.
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TRACKLIST
01. Rust (The Short Story of Mary Agnosia)
02. Like Steps in a Dance
03. Blur.
04. Inretrospect
05. Summer Tongues
06. Calm, Calm, Calm Yourself
07. Wedding/Funeral
08. Sleep. When We Die.
09. Forget Love, I Just Want You to Make Sense to Me Tonight
10. Sing Out
11. Sheet Music/Sheet MusicI just heard this album for the first time right now and I've got to say I like it. It's too early for me to say anything more than this: boy can that guy sing. I find that it's so hard to exist in the space in which this album exists and rise above cliche. Given the extent to which mellow guitar-driven indie-rock has been beaten to death, I still found this album fresh and interesting. Will certainly put it on again in the near future.
I gave the album a full listen yesterday at work. I liked it, but not a whole lot more than that. I definitely hear the Aaron Marsh connection from the bio you posted - musically and lyrically this sounds just like him. Anybody that enjoys this album a lot should check out Marsh's band Copeland, particularly the album Where's My Head. On a bit a tangent, a couple of my good friends have a band called Author whose album was produced by Aaron Marsh. You can check them out here.
seems interesting, definetly checking it out when i have time