Neil and The Crickets

Great Lake Swimmers- Great Lake Swimmers Ok, while we wait for the completely new albums to be added to Rhapsody today (not a great new releases week anyway though), here's one that was released two years ago but is being re-released today. It's a beautifully quiet, delicate album with heavy Neil Young influence (the good kind). The band is based in Toronto--one of my favorite cities--and actually just released their 2nd album, Bodies and Minds, in Canada last month. Unfortunately, it won't see release in the US until August 16th, so I assume it will be that long before we see it show up in Rhapsody.

This self-titled debut album is haunting, with simple acoustic instrumentation and vocals recorded in what sounds like a cave, complete with a lo-fi hiss that gives the impression of a light breeze, a distant river, or even a family of crickets. Don't let me give the impression that it has a hokey feel though... the atmosphere adds nicely to the sparse songs. The vocals have just the right amount of shakiness and modesty to fit the songs very well, while still able to occasionally lift up the songs with beautiful little harmonies. Album has a gorgeous closer...

... and I think those really might be crickets. Sure hope they recorded it outside in the summer up there. I've been there in the winter. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Enjoy!