Our friends at Bad Panda Records have come up trumps yet again with last Monday's free release (and if you haven't visited Bad Panda yet, or realised that they release a free song every Monday then shame on you!). This release is BadPanda080, the artist is Virgin of the Birds and the song is Let Me Be Your Bride. There, what more do you need to know?...Oh, OK, Named after a poor English translation of a Salvador Dali painting, Virgin of the Birds is the solo project of Jon Rooney, with occasional help from various folks for live shows and select recordings. The music is very much in the 'Griff Says' mould, i.e. it's a mix of introspective, lo-fi folk and indie-pop, which should thrill the senses and stimulate the mind in equal measure.
Jon formed Virgin of the Birds as an outlet for his songs outside of Morning Spy, a now-slumbering indie pop/rock band he originally formed in San Francisco, California. Virgin of the Birds followed, and was briefly based in Austin, Texas (the happy hunting ground of many a Streetlamp band) before settling in Seattle, Washington. Since 2004, Jon has also managed Abandoned Love Records through which he has released a series of free, download-only EPs. The Abandoned Love website is well worth checking out as, as well as providing downloads to all of Jon's prolific Virgin of the Birds back catalogue, they also release music by other artists; specialising in indie rock, lo fi, dream pop, and instrumental music.
Let Me Be Your Bride has a real 60s pop vibe to it but with the sort of dense lyricism and vocal phrasing that instantly reminds one of Bob Dylan. I think that it's really rather wonderful and hope that you will too. Here's the official video:
Let Me Be Your Bride is the opening track on Banquet Years, a free digital EP released in 2010 and recorded entirely at home by the talented Jon. It can be downloaded 'here'. Numerous Morning Spy MP3s are also available freely 'here'.
That should keep you busy for a while.
Big thanks to Bad Panda.
Griff
xx
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