[Their previous album] is sulfurous, etched with lost love, untimely death, and regretful acts of stupidity. Like oxygen, though, Roderick’s wit bubbles to the surface. – The Believer
John Roderick, the main man behind the long winters, has vocals that could probably swoon the cheeriest high-on-lifer into sadness. As I mentioned before, the band has a new EP out entitled Ultimatum. And although barsuk has the title track for download it’s not nearly as impressive as the following 2 tracks off the EP. Not unlike The Decemberists, the majority of Roderick’s songs are either about heartbreaking love or really peculiar stories. Case in point, The Commander Thinks Aloud is about crashing a space shuttle whereas Delicate Hands is about a girl (who he possibly tried to drown at some point). Commander is a bit of a departure from their usual pop-rock stuff but their sites does describe Ultimatum as an “epic studio experiment… gilded with string quartets and analog synths”. Either way, well worth checking out…
the long winters – the commander thinks aloud MP3
the long winters – delicate hands MP3
Also, I’ve said this before, but if you still haven’t listened to Carparts by our forementioned heroes, get on it. And, the band has their very own neat-o flickr group photo pool from which the header image was stolen.
[...] I really don’t mention the long winters nearly enough. well, there’s even more reason to mention them. There soon to be released LP, Putting the Days to Bed, has made it’s way on to the intertron and has magically ended up on my ipod. [...]
Such a great band.
This song is majestic….Roderick’s vocals rock in such a classy, soaring way here.
Thanks for having the mp3 link still valid.
I forgot how much I liked this tune.