Every Moment Has A Song

Stornoway: “Here Comes The Blackout…!” (2010)

I love three things about this song: the melody, the voice of Brian Briggs, and the sound of a saw as subtle added percussion in the final chorus (coming in at about 1:40 and ending with a piece of wood dropping to the floor).

It’s from Stornoway’s Beachcomber’s Windowsill album, a charmingly understated and ruminitave debut which, according to Amazon’s band bio “has taken more than five years to make; a labor of love that includes over a hundred different instruments, the chimes of a Dutch church bell, one Morse Code message and the sound of several carrots being chopped”.

They went back to Oxford, where the band was formed, to make this video for “Fuel Up”. Love the autoharp on this one:

Although they may not possess the one dimension that could push them toward Decemberists-like mainstream success (namely, the ability to rock out) they do share a lot with that band: unconventional lead vocals, some left-of-center instrumentaion, British folk influences, and songs strewn with literary refences. But this is a band I don’t need to rock out, or to change anything about the beautiful sound they make. Okay, maybe one thing: don’t take five years for the next record.