Along with crunchy leaves and drawn-out sunsets, autumn never fails to materialize with a pretty serious cold epidemic. So while I sit here miserably nursing my sickness and wishing I had spent the extra fifty cents on the higher-end snot paper, I am comforted by what I consider to be yet another fall staple: folk music. Because as the weather cools, nothing warms you up quite like the slow guitars and the soothing voices of bearded men wearing plaid shirts. No?
Now if you’re not already deterred by the fact that I used ‘sunset’ and ‘snot’ in the same paragraph, bear with me, I’ll eventually get to the point.
Here are two bands I have grown quite fond of this week. They both hail from Portland, Oregon, which is the land of The Decemberists, microbreweries and um, roses.
Blitzen Trapper is a six-man (six-person? sextet?) ensemble who have been around for a few years. Their new album is called Furr and is their first release under Sub Pop. The title track was quick to seduce me, with its strange lyrics about a boy raised by wolves. Or maybe it was the sound of loons in the background which reminded me of childhood camping trips (please note that this memory triggered thoughts of hot dogs and juice boxes, causing me to walk away and make snacks, briefly forgetting about this post). In a nutshell: this whole album is beautiful and worth your while.
The second band is called Horse Feathers and are completely adorable. Their quiet but gut-wrenching Iron and Wine-type sound has earned them a spot touring with Jose Gonzalez .Their latest album is called House With No Home and I would like it to be my soundtrack as I bike to work in the morning, please. Here it is.
xo.
