The Pelican’s Perch

Oh, let the obsession begin. I was literally listening to The Deadly Syndrome’s album The Ortolan non-stop on their virb site where it is streaming. Luckily, the kind people over at The Orchard sent a copy of it my way so I could listen to it in my car, at work, on my living room stereo, and wherever else I could. I think it may be physically impossible to listen to this album as many times as I have in the last few days because of the whole only 24 hours in a day thing I keep hearing about, but I seriously have lost count how many times I’ve listened to it.

The story behind The Deadly Syndrome, from what I’ve gathered, is that they’re a group of new and old friends who came together to make music in the guest room of an old ranch, then eventually played a show for friends on their front porch. From there, they played some real shows and before they knew it, they were playing at SXSW and opening for bands like Cold War Kids. That could all be a total lie, but it’s what I got from the interweb.

So what do they sound like that makes me so obsessed with them in such a short amount of time, you ask? Stereogum described them as Arcade Mouse Parade, which I can hear, but I’d go more along the route of The Acorn mixed with Apollo Sunshine. So, basically quirky indie-folk that doesn’t really follow any preset norm.

Songs like “Eucalyptus”(which ends each show as an amazing encore) and “Winter in You” will carry the album for sure, and that’s why I imagine those were chosen as blogger approved tracks I can share, but it kills me I can’t post some of the other songs. There’s so many moments that just make me grin every time they arrive unexpectedly, like when the drums finally enter towards the end of “The Ship That Shot Its Selef” (not a typo), a song with the delightfully depressing (uplifting?) lyric of “It feels good to know that someone’s out of mind/out of time/only to think of you/so when I listen to someone else/it makes me want to kill myself/or maybe save myself”.

Then there’s the synth filled, bouncy dance number “Emily Pants” which I’ll be playing at my next dance party. “I Hope I Become a Ghost” rivals anything Cold War Kids have written with a great piano riff and, as the video below shows, is great live. “Wolves in the Garden” may very well be my favorite, sitting quietly in the early half of the album as one of only two acoustic songs on the album. “Animals Wear Clothes” is the album’s longest track at 6:25 and is most likely the track that represents Wolf Parade in that Arcade Mouse Parade description.

I could go on for a while just listing all the tracks and why I like them, which I very well may do in the near future should I ever write a formal album review, but for now I’ll just let you take my word for it. Listen to the two songs below and watch the live videos and let me know what you think. The Orotlan is the epitome of why I write about music and have developed music A.D.D. Because I know there are gems like this out there in the sea of mediocre indie music and all my hard work is made more than worth it once I find one. So, here’s a big thank you to the guys from The Deadly Syndrome for leaving the guest room of their ranch to give us such a great album. I won’t jump the gun just yet, but I smell a possible top 10 album of the year with The Ortolan.

The Ortolan was released last Tuesday, September 11th so go buy your copy now. You won’t regret it. Of course, if you don’t believe all my over the top love for this album, just head over to their virb site and stream it yourself. I’ve also gathered up all the youtube videos of their songs I could find for your convenience.

1. Eucalyptus [mp3] [that show-ending drum circle blows me away!)

2. Winter In You [mp3]

3. I Hope I Become A Ghost
4. Wolves In The Garden [youtube]
5. Animals Wearing Clothes
6. Friends Who Don’t Go Out At Night
7. Heart
8. Emily Paints
9. I Release You
10. Creature, Creature
11. The Ship That Shot Its Selef [youtube]
12. This Old Home

Upcoming Dates

09-12 Santa Barbara, CA @ Velvet Jones (w/Morning Benders)
09-13 San Francisco, CA @ Café Du Nord (w/Morning Benders)
09-14 Reno, NV @ Green Room
10-06 Downtown Los Angeles, CA @ LA Weekly’s Detour Music Festival (w/Bloc Party, Justice and more)

I Hope I Become a Ghost live at the House of Blues
[youtube RbQ3OWQx9Cw]
Also, did I mention they’re really funny guys? They went and filmed a bunch of funny shorts to promote the album with a real Wes Andersen type of feel to them.

Happy Birthday
[youtube GrFnWY11I-o]
More Promos:
Kablamo
Doug
Save Water
Is That Chris?

Official Site / Myspace / Stream The Ortolan here
Artist Direct Interview / Buy it here, here, here, or here

Possibly the longest, most in-depth (as far as links go) post I’ve done on a single band, possibly even in a single post since last year’s top 50 list. Whew boy! Time for a nap. Enjoy sifting through all the great stuff in this post and leave a comment for sure to let me know what you think.