Bell Horses • I Know Just What You Believe
Sounds like: Jenny Owen Youngs, Azure Ray, Death Cab For Cutie
One of the perks of an established musician is the social networking. They tweet each other, hang out together, go to each other’s gigs, plug each other’s latest albums… and sometimes even get together for a jam. If we fans get lucky, they might even record a song or two, maybe even an EP or an entire album! Collaborations can result in amazing work - (give me one person who dislikes The Postal Service or Broken Social Scene) - which is usually a recipe incorporating styles and abilities from all parties involved.
One newest collaboration is Bell Horses, comprising of singer/songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs and electronica/producer extraordinaire Xian Hawkins (aka Sybarite). When Jenny was just breaking through with her debut album, Xian approached her through the power of MySpace and suggested collaborating. They got together and kicked things off, but decided to call in a little help from their friends; Alexander Ericson from The Northern Territories, The Antlers drummer Michael Lerner and classical string player Eve Boltax are all credited performers on the Bell Horses first offering - full length This Loves Last Time which is being independently released on October 13th.
This Loves Last Time is a darkly layered affair with a good helping of alt-pop. Xian’s producing has polished it into an off-beat package, perfectly blending his own style with JOY’s smooth vocals as well as seamlessly joining real instruments with computerized samples. It’s musically complex, with mid-tempo tracks which build nicely into rich tapestries of textures and sounds. None of the songs will have you dancing on the ceiling and you probably won’t even remember the words, but I have a sneaky suspicion that’s not what they were going for anyway.
Other http:// Website • Last.fm • JOY’s Website
MP3 ♫ Bell Horses - Still Life (download it here)
MP3 ♫ Bell Horses - Dust Of Us