I was sent this album by a Molly, a member of the band. It is an extremely good album from a band i am not sure i would have heard of otherwise.
Sort of a lovely folk-pop record, kind of like a more interesting Noah and the Whale. Or, at times, somewhat like Nana Grizol but not exactly.
Every song on the album is excellent, which is pretty rare. They use a large selection of instruments, layered without ever falling into the the excessively-baroque trap that some multi-instrumentalists do. Underneath the interesting instrumentation, still, is some absolutely solid songwriting and great lyrics.
Molly describes the band thus:
"New Socks is Ben Morey, Molly Kerker and Becky Lovell. We started playing together in 2008 and released our first album New So(ck)(ng)s in 2009. We've done one tour where we played in 13 states. Our music is made with guitars, accordion, tambourine, bass, ukulele, banjo, keyboards, piano, trumpet and clarinet. We write honest, mostly autobiographical songs. Picture Story Friends Goodbye is our second album and it will be released on October 12th 2010.We spent a year recording this album ourselves in an old farmhouse we were living in, that was filled with instruments and surrounded by fields of growing things and singing birds (which come through the quietest parts of the album). The album is about leaving, grasping at childhood and lost family and friends, seeing things die, being in love with everyone and trying not to lose them."
My personal favourite tracks are "Summer", "The Boys I Meet", and "Robin Skull".
Buy the album here.
New Socks is raising money for a short vinyl run and tour here. Donate!
