Thursday, June 23, 2011

Motopony

This song was recently mentioned on NPR's All Song's Considered, and while I tend (with exceptions) not to like rock music or any of its hyphenates, I loved hearing this. Go ahead and click on that first link to give it a listen. Thanks to KEXP's "Song of the Day" for posting that. It's downloadable too!

I haven't bought the album (yet), but I have previewed all of the tracks online, and it's interesting that this song, "Seer," is indicative of the band, not necessarily in terms of quantifiable music qualities (the album veers from the softly strummed folky sound of "June" to the rock sounds of "Seer" back to the ragtimey "I am my Body" and into the electronic feel of "God Damn"), but in terms of the atmosphere.

I was at first mystified by "Seer," since it was introduced (on NPR) as a song by a band that channels the spirit of the Pacific Northwest. "Seer" for me, does not channel that feeling. The opening guitar riff, coupled with the lyrical references to "the river" make me think that this song is a response to Paul Simon's "Peace Like a River." In the context of the album, however, I can feel that Pacific Northwesterly vibe, even though I've never been there.

And by the way, it's Motopony like a motorized pony, not Motopony like metonymy.

1 comment:

Joel said...

I really like this song.

We really need to catch up soon.