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| Photo | Danny Dorsa |
I’ve been down recently, y’all. Disappointed by all the emails from PR reps peppering my inbox that at one time, consistently contained a gem or two for us to feature on this here blog. But as of late, the pickings haven’t been ripe, and even the high-profile releases turned out to be less substantive than I’d once hoped. That was until a lil’ email from Jessica Linker hit up that inbox like a Saint Bernard with one of those casks around his neck licking the face of an alcoholic skier who’s broken his leg in the Alps. Thank gawd for Mutual Benefit. I have been re-in-vig-or-ate-d-a!
Go ahead and press play on “Advanced Falconry” below and let it frame the rest of this post:
The sun broke, and the black clouds surrounding my musical-mood instantly parted — giving way to those rays of sunshine that are usually only surrounding Jesus’s head, or inexplicably present in one of those horrible Thomas Kinkade pictures with log cabin in the snow or some shit. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is — from 0:01 of this song, you can’t help but fall in love with it.
Stings and banjo plernk in, surrounded by Jordan Lee’s swirling falsetto — it hearkens to early Andrew Bird, but only briefly and on the fringe, because what Mutual Benefit does here feels so much more cavernous than the music that Bird produces. It’s heartfelt, and beautiful. Heartbreaking and wonderful all at the same time.
Give Advanced Falconry a few spins below, and check out the glorious debut album on Dec. 3 via Other Music Recording Co. Nice work.