The Pelican’s Perch

Working a ton, Lemondrop 2.0 (which I’ll tell you about when we’re ready), various side projects, and a whole host of other things, have kept me super busy lately.  No excuse, but that’s my excuse for not keeping up with the Perch lately.  If it makes you feel any better, the stuff I’ve been meaning to write about is some of my favorite music of the year.  And I can say that with confidence, considering the next few bands I write about have been in my car for a good two weeks.

Band #1 on that list – Freelance Whales.  Their album Weathervanes will make my top 10 list easy.  Possibly crack the top five as well.  It’s that good.  Call it what you what: dreamy pop, acoustic/folk street music/etc., the reviews sure have, but I honestly don’t think there’s a genre or term that could pin their sound down.  They sound like Illinoise era Sufjan, sing almost completely in chorus (100% in chorus when live), and play with a host of odd instrument arrangements that I imagine even Sufjan would be jealous of.

Weathervanes starts off with “Generator ^ 1st Floor”, a song that couldn’t capture their unique sound better.  It ’s got that dreamy feel the reviews described, the Sufjan feel I described, and the (enter descriptive word) feel you’ll inevitably come up with yourself.  “Hannah” follows the opener and remains my favorite song on the album.  I hate to single any song out as my favorite, as there’s just so many great songs throughout the album.  But “Hannah” remains one of the year’s best.  “Hannah”, along with the two generator songs, “Location”, “Starring”, “Broken Horse”, and “Ghosting”.  See what I did there.  But that’s when you know an album is one of your favorites of the year.  When any of six or seven songs on the album can be one of your favorites of the year interchangeably.

I have to say I’m more than happy I randomly stumbled upon this album and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to help a few of you “stumble” onto this great band through this post as well.

Freelance Whales
Weathervanes
Perch Score: 9.466/10

1.Generator ^ First Floor (3:06) [mp3]

2.Hannah (3:37)
3.Location (4:37)
4.Channels (1:17)
5.Starring (3:33)
6.Kilojoules (3:19)
7.Broken Horse (4:37)
8.Danse Flat (1:14)
9.Ghosting (5:18)
10.We Could Be Friends (4:12)
11.Vessels (1:41)
12.Generator ^ Second Floor (4:30) [mp3]

13.The Great Estates (4:01)

Freelance Whales Myspace / Some Live Videos