For whatever reason, I've never gotten into Belle and Sebastian.  Like books and movies, oh-so-long is the list of music I can't seem to get around to.  Stuart Murdoch (of B&S) has put together an amazing project due out in early June on Matador.  While running he had a tune in his head he knew wasn't right for his band; it was a vivid wall of doop-woppy girl-group vocals and a 45-piece orchestra.  Culling together nine amazing vocalists (most notably, Catherine Ireton who worked with Belle and Sebastian in 2006) he recorded the album that had been ringing in his head for the better part of 5 years.  He calls it God Help the Girl and this YouTube clip tells you all about it.

The first single, "Come Monday Night" starts out sounding like something Snow White might trill amongst the wild flowers.  It then kicks into classic old school pop, riffing on the throwback-stylings of M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel's Volume I, though moodier and less California.  If the debut has all the perfect pop of the single with just a bit more melancholic Scottishness, I suspect we'll be hearing a lot about God Help the Girl.  

Download: "Come Monday Night"

(While you're at it, check out Ireton's band, The Go Away Birds for a free download.  While it doesn't excite me half as much as GHTG, I do enjoy Ireton's voice.)

Have I mentioned how beautiful this album art is?

I will swipe my first entry from These Roving Eyes. Cheap, I know.

A little Winter Mixed Tape for y'all. A collection of songs I'm loving - some old, some new, all receiving constant play in my world. Enjoy and check these artists out on iTunes.

1) Epilepsy is Dancing – Antony and the Johnsons
2) Went Walking – Bosque Brown
3) Tailor – Julie Doiron
4) Hold Time – M. Ward
5) Mykonos – Fleet Foxes
6) Paddy’s Gone – Antony and the Johnsons
7) Broken Chair – Jim Guthrie
8) He Doesn’t Know Why – Fleet Foxes
9) Another World – Antony and the Johnsons
10) Prescilla – Bat for Lashes
11) Aeon – Antony and the Johnsons
12) You Are Free – Cat Power
13) Streetlights – Kanye West
14) Oh My God – Gentleman Reg
15) Gossip in the Grain – Ray LaMontagne
16) Man Under the Sea – Patrick Watson
17) Oh Lonesome Me – M. Ward
18) Little Tornados – Aimee Mann
19) Call it Off – Tegan and Sara
20) Magpie to the Morning – Neko Case

Download the zip!