Sorry! here are the individual links to the four songs above:

Mykonos

White Winter Hymnal

Sun It Rises

Meadowlarks

Heh. I reviewed these guys-- or the EP, rather-- for Junkmedia back in March.

Oh Jokeefe! Let's twirl together and collapse in a heap on some muddy mountainside while listening to this fine, fine band!

Their new one takes that whole 1974 vibe and parlays it into near early-music territory: check the drums out on some of these songs.

I love how this band is so gentle - they took all the lyricism of MMJ and then spun it into an even earlier sound.

Can I coin the phrase Gentle Rock, please?

Can I coin the phrase Gentle Rock, please?

For the love of all that is good and right and holy, please don't.

A fie and a pox upon you, Bmarketing scheme!

Gentle Rock is the NOW sound the kids crave!

Four-part harmonies about squirrels and the passing of the seasons! Long odes to meadowlarks and hummingbirds!

*runs to get his leather-patched wool cardigan*

new rock symbol for Gentle Rockers: devil-horns with the pinky extended as if to sip from a porcelain tea cup*

Four-part harmonies about squirrels and the passing of the seasons! Long odes to meadowlarks and hummingbirds!

I'll just nip 'round the back and shoot myself then.

aw jeez - didja even listen to the songs? These guys are for real - they're fantastic.

what do you have against squirrels and harmony, man?

I loves the squirrels. Harmony, when it's done right, is a great thing. However, I've yet to read word one about this band that makes me think I'm going to enjoy them. I will give them a listen when I get home tonight, but I will tell you now that the whole whispy twee neo-pseudo-folkie thing does nothing for me but raise my blood pressure. And invoking CSN just makes it that much worse.

I also love the squirrels.

And let us not forget The Squirrels.

Hey LT, I’m sorry if I came off like I was harshing on your taste in music. It’s just that the very concept of Gentle Rock is absolutely 100% anathema to my conception of rock. That doesn’t mean you can’t like it, or that you have bad taste or anything like that; it just means that it’s not my cup of fur. I gave “Mykonos” a listen. It’s very well done, for what it is, but it’s very much not for me. In fact, it sorta sums up why I’m not buying nearly as much new music as I used to.

Music has always been really important to me. I spend an awful lot of time thinking about it. Probably an embarrassing amount of time, given my age, but there it is. Music has gotten me through some really rough patches in my life. I value its ability to pick me up when I’m not feeling well, and to shoot me out in to the stratosphere when I’m on the upswing. The best music for me has always been that which grabs me by the ears and demands that I listen to it: 220 household volts in a copper bathtub, that sort of thing. I thrive on that kind of stimulation. This is not to say that quiet music is no good – far from it. Nick Drake has that same capability, as do Miles Davis and Fairport Convention (most of the time) and Bob Dylan, and on and on. There’s an electric quality to the music I hold dear, regardless of whether it was played on a solo acoustic guitar or what have you.

What I’m missing in a lot of the bands like Fleet Foxes is that spark. Maybe it’s there and I’m just not hearing it. Maybe I’m incapable of hearing it. All I know is that it just doesn’t grab me. You can call me a knuckle-dragging troglodyte rockist looking for his next Stooges fix if you need to. I suppose there might even be a nugget of truth in there, but the fact of the matter is that I find about 90% of the newer bands I hear these days incredibly boring, which is up something like 30 or 40%. Again, I’m not trying to pass judgment on anyone else’s taste; I’m sure that there’s a lot of stuff that I really dig that you’d find equally as snore-worthy. As my mom would say, that’s what makes a horserace.

None of which will stop me looking for new sounds. Pop culture is nothing if not cyclical; it’s just dipping into a period that didn’t work all that well for me, on the whole. Once through that part of 1974 was plenty for me, thanks. In the meantime, there’s about a century’s worth of recorded music out there for me to explore. I’ll do just that, bide my time, and wait for things to get interesting (to me) again.

All that said, I’m glad you’ve found something you like. I appreciate your passion for the things you enjoy, even if I don’t share it.

Wow - Bmarkey! Awesome comment.

And I was just pulling your leg about the FF - I love their music to pieces and my musical tastes are nearly the opposite of yours. My iPOD is filled with "gentle rock" stuff for the most part - the hardest stuff I have on mine would be Wolfmother, Lars Fredericksen and the Bastards and the Dropkick Murphys.

The Fleet Foxes are like a blueprint of my absolute favorite kind of music - tight harmonies, tenor voices, major, major key melodies, etc. And you're right about Nick Drake - anyone who doesn't own Pink Moon is missing something vital that could change their musical universe.

What's really cool is your musical/emotional need is the same as mine - I just key off different stuff.

Instead of electricity in a tub I need an old dirt road and a pair of overalls, I guess.

Thanks for your thoughts, though. Awesome.