Le Diamant Brut: The Daredevil Christopher Wright & The Georgian Company
What’s the Deal: Lingering somewhere around Minnesota, the Dakotas and Wisconsin, which is where they’re from, this month and the next is a musical threesome with an eccentric indie folk sound. Their thick, sweepy layers of music and lyrics have reached out like tentacles ensnaring music fans like those at Minnesota’s public radio program The Current and fellow musicians like Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, who mixed their debut out this month, In Difference to a Broken Back. The album was actually inspired by singer/bassist Jason Sunde’s struggle with a back injury a few years ago.
Starting off with a song like “Bury You Alive” is one of the best ways to meet the band, and before you know it, you’ll be lying in a field surrounded by others like “Acceptable Loss” and “A Conversation About Cancer”. In a very upbeat and snappy fashion, the song will have you singing along to “And I will bury you” while a flute chirps along and a jazzy cymbal hisses in the background.
Something Interesting: A good piece of advice for those who are interested in discovering new bands and unfamiliar sounds is for you to do some investigating of smaller, community-based record labels such as Amble Down, where you’ll find little indie gems like the Wars of 1812.
Other Tracks Worth Checking Out: “A Near Death Experience at Sea” and “Stewardess”
What’s the Deal: The Georgian Company is a relatively new Austin country/folk outfit who picked up where Just Guns (of which many of the members were a part) left off. The group is fronted by singer/guitarist/banjo player George Irwin, which is no doubt where the name came from. Georgian Company is really “George and company”. They’ve recently released their debut EP, Side A, about which you can read a review/interview from a previous post here.
According to the group, they’re inspired by “70’s folk rock, classic country and modern indie-pop,” and that’s a great way to describe the sound of songs like “Meter”. A pedal steel guitar whales in the background during a folk/pop melody, and the dark sigh of a breathy line or two gives the song a doleful presence. There’s even a slight hint of “Wiked Games” that can be heard here.
Something Interesting: Word is they’re working on a follow-up called Side B, which will be eventually paired with Side A to complete their debut full-length.
Other Tracks Worth Checking Out: “Apology”
