Stornoway - Beachcomber's Windowsill

Stornoway's debut album has turned out to be a treasure of a find since I first stumbled upon it at my local record store.

Beachcomber's Windowsill is eleven tracks of absolutely charming songs. Labeled as indie/alternative pop, the Oxford band's songs in truth are more flexible in identity, showing elements of folk and rock amongst other genres. There's something pure and joyous about these songs and the way they celebrate simple love and life.

Musically, Stornoway has taken full advantage of their resources. Not content to limit themselves to the traditional guitar-bass-drums(-keyboard) combo of a typical band, Stornoway brought in guest musicians to add brass and strings for several of their tracks, in addition to the band's own considerable skills both vocal and instrumental. I was delighted the first time I heard "I Saw You Blink" and its chorus with intertwining vocals. As well, both "We Are The Battery Human" and "Here Comes The Blackout...!" clearly showcased how well the members of this band harmonized with each other. "The Coldharbour Road" was hauntingly beautiful and made good use of strings.

Overall, Beachcomber's Windowsill is both foot-tapping fun and slower, poignant beauty. If you are able, I hope you do pick up the album. (Details of where to buy it can be found on their Myspace page, which I've linked at the start.) I look forward to seeing what this band will do in the future.

Beachcomber's Windowsill tracklist:
1. Zorbing
2. I Saw You Blink
3. Fuel Up
4. The Coldharbour Road
5. Boats And Trains
6. We Are The Battery Human
7. Here Comes The Blackout...!
8. Watching Birds
9. On The Rocks
10. The End Of The Movie
11. Long Distance Lullaby

Maides Treasuries

Maides Treasuries: "Spats, Cuffs and Jewelry Design with original Materials from 1900-1930."

If you're any lover of steampunk fashion, you've probably come across spats before. Maides Treasuries turns spats creation into an artistry, with elaborate and unique pieces that are as much decorative as they are functional. If you have the time, drop by her blog and check them out, if only to admire the amount of work she has put into each pair.

The Young Veins - Take a Vacation!

Expect fun and catchy tunes in The Young Veins' debut album Take a Vacation!. With its throwback sound of the 60s and the simple - if nonetheless heartfelt - lyrics, The Young Veins have created an album that manages to embody summer with all its wildness and freedom. On the heels of 'summer' often follows 'vacation,' and with tracks like "Defiance," "Young Veins (Die Tonight)," and the eponymous "Take a Vacation!" listeners get to enjoy a riot of that sensation of letting go.

Take a Vacation! is a solid album from start to finish. Despite most of the songs clocking in under three minutes, there's no sense that the songs feel too short. Indeed, it's more preferable than having each song dragged out to meet today's expectations of a "decently-lengthed" song and weakening the album as a whole. The album managed to nicely showcase its 60s influences without being too derivative, which had been a worry when I'd first heard "Change" as a single. Even then, though, "Change" had been an earworm, and the rest of the album is testament that The Young Veins haven't been just borrowing classic riffs wholesale.

As for lyrics, it's a nice progression from Ryan Ross's (and Jon Walker's) previous writing endeavours of Pretty. Odd. There's less of the outright fantastic imagery that was prevalent in songs like "Northern Downpour" and "Behind the Sea" - much as I loved it in Pretty. Odd., it would have been too much for the kind of atmosphere Take a Vacation! was trying to project. Still, there were some really nice turns of phrase: "I swear this like a sailor/Love is not a favor/I find it's just a concept that we live inside" of first track "Change," for example. I think the only song that actually disappointed me lyrically was "The Other Girl," which I felt was inane. (Nor did the song's subject matter help - I loved the tune but the words just left me lifting an eyebrow and thinking, really? "Life is not a fairytale/They will send him straight to jail/Where he'll die and go to hell/With the other girl" especially didn't scan well, and the lyrics of the chorus were just boring.)

My favorite songs have been "Young Veins (Die Tonight)," "Heart of Mine," and "Defiance." Indeed, it was "Young Veins (Die Tonight)" that convinced me that I couldn't miss out on this album - back when there were only three tracks available to the public, to boot. "Heart of Mine" and "Defiance" stood out for especially poignant lyrics with equally beautiful sound.


Take a Vacation! tracklist:
1. Change
2. Take A Vacation!
3. Cape Town
4. Maybe I Will, Maybe I Won't
5. Young Veins (Die Tonight)
6. Everyone But You
7. The Other Girl
8. Dangerous Blues
9. Defiance
10. Lie To The Truth
11. Heart Of Mine
12. Nothing Matters But You (with Z Berg of The Like)*
13. Funnel Of Love*

*Bonus digital download