These guys sound like Noah Gunderson if Gunderson decided to find a larger group he could rock with. Or if Gunderson decided to lead a Mumford & Sons sound-alike. But honestly, instead of listening to the horrible new Mumford record, you should just put this on instead for a similar vibe.

Bear’s Den has an incredible hint of soul and a depth to the group that sounds both like despair and Sunday morning worship. Almost every song is beautiful. Check out Isaac though. That’s a wicked tune. And I think the whole album sounds like that.

Bear’s Den are on track to become a hugely successful band if you ask me. (I honestly think they’d already be super popular if they had a better, less passive name.) Listen to this record as soon as you can.

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She and the band that support her don’t exactly write folk music or anything like that, but the singer-songwriter roots are obvious and blatant. Blum is mostly regarded for her skills as a songwriter, which is probably because a lot of the songs just have simple guitar backing tracks that are there mainly to accentuate her voice.

But when the group wants to kick it up a notch, they absolutely can, and they sound great while rocking out. So saying that their biggest strength is lyrical is missing the point, and an arguably obtuse way to measure the success of Mal Blum’s songwriting.

What Mal Blum is great at is atmosphere, which is impressive: they’re not using keyboards or acoustic guitars or anything most of us regularly associate with “atmosphere”. They’re purely using vocals, pulled-back guitars with a hint of distortion (very bluesy without playing the blues), and well-placed percussion to make their point.

It’s possible You Look a Lot Like Me is their best yet. It’s certainly a great introduction for those of us who are unfamiliar with the Mal Blum sound.

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In fact, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say this record is basically Rolling Stones, Oasis, and Black Keys having a lovechild together and calling it Royal Deluxe. That sounds like a weird sell, but what else would you call it when a bunch of guys who love blues-influenced rock’n’roll get together and just belt the first dozen tracks that come to mind? Because that’s what this sounds like.

The other thing about this record is that it’s insanely short. It’s less than half an hour and covers the same amount of ground most bands would take fifty minutes to cover. There’s choirs, big choruses, breakdowns, the whole nine yards, and Royal Deluxe cram it into a (deluxe) package that’s only twenty-five minutes long.

I’ve showed this record off a bit since I first listened to it, but I haven’t found anybody who dislikes it yet. Give it a spin. I think it’ll brighten your day.

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This means it’s basically a Nils Frahm record that doesn’t sound like Nils Frahm.

The things that make Nils’ music so delightful are all present, though: playful experimentation, repetition that breaks into uncharted territory, build-ups that would be suspenseful if they weren’t so frequently serene, and composition that would leave most composers jealous.

What makes this record unusual is that it’s not as full of a statement as one might expect from Nils. And this could be the influence of Arnalds, who I suspect is responsible for bringing a certain level of unease to the music. It’s all wonderful, beautiful stuff that’s unlike what we’ve heard from Nils before.

What’s great about the record is that it works exceptionally well on repeat: the last track comes to a rather sudden end, and when you repeat the album, it starts to deflate. This might be by design, so listeners are forced to put the album on repeat forever. If that’s the case, it’s brilliant music, as always.

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Summer Twins are a duet, actually. Chelsea does guitar work and vocals, and Justine does drum work and vocals. So in that sense, the twins aren’t unlike White Stripes or Black Keys or any of those awesome two-person bands. The difference seems to be in a massive west coast influence that adds a huge degree of charm to their music.

So far, I’ve listened to this record in the following scenarios, where it was well-received by everybody else nearby:

• playing board games (Catan, to be specific), where it was enjoyed by my wife, brother-in-law, mother-in-law, and father-in-law, who are all becoming much too picky about music, so this was a welcome relief.
• working in the studio (I was the only person present in this scenario, but the music was very well-received)
• driving
• cooking supper
• eating South African pancakes for breakfast

As you can no doubt tell, this is a wonderful record suited for a variety of occasions. I’d recommend it for whatever situation you’re in right now. Go listen to it.

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