So then, loveliness, something this blog has never been shy to embrace. There's not nearly as much of it about as there ought to be quite frankly so hitting a new pure seam is always cause to get the bunting out. Flowing like a clearwater spring from the Canadian wilds (alright, Ontario), it's Kensington Prairie...

...and their debut release, now some months old, Captured in still life. Forty minutes, 10 tracks of shimmering, folk-inflected prettiness and definitely a case of if you like one you'll like the lot. Which isn't to say they all sound the same rather that they're just consistently appealing.
Actually we've sort of been this way before. Maplewood Lane was KP prime mover Rebecca Rowan's earlier recorded incarnation and the three songs reallyrather loved way back in 2004 still stand up. Nathan from that project remains on board (not least because they got married) and uber-allrounder Jonathan Anderson plays and twiddles everything in sight in the course of rendering blissful pastoral pop.
Clean strummin' spiked with mandolin/banjo forms the backdrop to Rowan's vocal melodies which push to Wist Factor 12. Some might find her voice a bit cloying over the course of a whole album; superficially it is the defining element here but crucially and most excellently its lent terrific harmonic dimension by Michelle Masters [see vid at foot of last post]. The pizzicato step of Crooked things straight is presently shining brightest - but that's just today. Honest goodness abounds...
[kensington prairie]

...and its rather reminiscent of folks like Mascott and [sigh] the late and loverly Laurel Music, Swedish country-popsters who packed it in after one album to go their separate, Distinctly Less Good, ways (think on, guys)...

The Kensington Prairie release has escaped over the Canadian border and gained some notice elsewhere. David Martel's I hardly knew me on the other hand has not. Since it too is rather ace this is almost as strange as the degree to which this blog is enjoying it. Outwardly, lots of alarm bells ring: hideous artwork and press release, a running time of nearly 70mins (with plenty of songs bustin' six) and a list of glaring, er, 'influences' which would ordinarily send rr a-runnin' for the hills.
That this record is post-Damien Rice, -Rufus Wainwright, -Jeff Buckley etc is inescapable and ought to be - warning: crit-speke ahead - an execrable affair. Sufjan Stevens can be added to the list which counters matters slightly but the album's ultimate winning card is that it often conjours a sound reminiscent of vintage proggy pop. More specifically, this:

The hat, the beard - it could be Mr Martel himself! And joybringer wouldn't be an inaccurate epithet to pin on IHKM . A number like Save your complex exemplifies one end of the sound (Rufus W. with rockist tendencies); Yours and mine, semi-precious delivery and lyrically over-ripe, the Rice-ian other. What they share in common with all (yes, all) the others in between are big attractive tunes tricked out in active arrangements. There's always something going on.
On the corner's probably the one for whatever the current equivalent of the mixtape is. Picked acoustic, clean organ and a soft, upclose lead vocal (with great girl bvs) gradually swell to a rapturous tumult; martial drums and brass march us up to the top of the hill and back down again. There's definitely a lot of swelling and ebbing going on here.
Be all, end all is another very taking song, it's episodic structure distracting attention from an 8-minute running time. At its peak it rocks out most agreeably; any latent air-drumming tendencies will also be drawn out midway through the ultimately anthemic Stay in and at several points across Cancel all your plans. The latter, with its bubbling synth lines atop some propulsive percussive clatter, is a great end to proceedings.
Fundamentally, I hardly knew me pulses with the sheer pleasure of music-making. And although the sterling exchange rate isn't what it was (even a few weeks ago!) it's great value; seek it out...
[david martel]

And up ahead there's...

:: the new record from Denison Witmer, Carry the weight, released in three weeks time. In the lead up he's been throwing out a few cover versions (Band of Horses, Oasis etc) over here...

:: and a little London show for Rivulets (Nathan Amundson) on Nov 10 in support of a UK release for You are my home...