The Slowcoustic Inbox speaketh… Music Submissions worth mentioning: We Are The Willows!

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Artist/Music submissions come fast and furious at times and it is hard to keep up being the solo person around Slowcoustic HQ.  Why even mention this?  Because it’s my blog damnit!  No just kidding – I am wanting to let you all know about a project that showed up in the ol’ inbox a few weeks back that I thought you might actually want to listen to.  I always enjoy getting artist submissions – they just don’t always match up to what I have going on around here…but that is a whole different story.  It also can be hard just keeping up with all the music!  Oh, it’s hard for a pimp…

Let’s dig into a project and get you listening to (hopefully) new music that you will love and hold over the heads of your friends because you have it and they don’t.  {I think I am a bit punchy today, no?}

~~~

We Are The Willows
We Are The Willows (Amble Down Records)

This one is well worth a listen, believe me (the American version of me, Lee @ Knoxroad, had a mention as well).  There is a free EP “A Family. A Tree. EP” and an upcoming full length on November 24th entitled “A Collection Of Sounds And Something Like The Plague” that have been playing quite regularly around here.  Anyone who has been around these parts for a while know that I can have a bit of a thing for unique and interesting vocals.  Lets be honest, for a pseudo folk singer songwriter the vocals can make and break you.  Many have been singled out for having what I believe Peter Miller has, the distinct ability to have a voice and delivery that will make you love it or hate it.  If you are worth your salt in my books, you will love it.  If you have read this far and haven’t listened yet, press play on the YouTube video below now and then read on.

You will find obvious similarities to the late Jeff Hanson (RIP) and Joel Thibodeau of Death Vessel – Miller could be the folk version of another favourite, Windmill, to if I had to say…  It can be unnerving, but the combination of the great acoustic/ambient/electro backing with perfect combination of true singer songwriter and performance art brings the full bloom of this experience.  I find it intoxicating at times, it can be one of the most delicate things you can listen to and even strangely heartbreaking (songs like “Karate” from the EP and “A Funeral Dressed As A Birthday” & “Norwalk, Iowa” from the upcoming LP).

There can be a bit of over ambient mixed in for the straight laced crowd, as Miller can provide additional audio layers with an impression of the world around us…you could say.  This is created by We Are The Willows recording most of the album with his laptop & microphone while touring his native Minneapolis to create the album but I still believe it works.   Don’t get me wrong, it can get away from him a little bit at times, but overall he reigns it in to keep it from going to over the top art house noise pop on us.   Take a bit of a glimpse into the world of WATW below;

“Karate”
“Isabel’s Song”

from A Family. A Tree. EP

A Funeral Dressed As A Birthday”
from A Collection of Sounds And Something Like The Plague

You can stream the whole upcoming album at both Amble Down Records and the We Are The Willows Myspace page.  You can also pick up the entire “A Family. A Tree. EP” at both for a free/donation download.  If you needed to listen now, you can pre-order the album and get the download immediately – that seems like something to get your weekend started correctly, doesn’t it?

Visit/Purchase We Are The Willows:

Bonus Video:

~Smansmith