Comedown Sunday: Cub

Photo By Ingrid Akerman

This week’s Comedown Sunday comes to you courtesy of Ireland’s Solar Bears and Greece’s Keep Shelly in Athens¹. Cub is a beautiful little song, at just under 3 minutes it’s reminiscent of Elizabethan consort/early Baroque lute music, with a simple, plucked guitar line undercut by delicate panpipes. While Solar Bears aren’t musicians who fall into the ‘ambient’ genre such as it is normally defined, this song is distinctly ‘ambient’ to me in that in conjures a distinct, crystal clear vision and mood every time I hear it: it glimmers and flows like a lazy river, sparkling in the sunlight and rippled by the most delicate breeze. The Keep Shelly In Athens Remix takes this ambient quality and turns it ethereal, stretching the song to almost twice the original run time, and decorating it with unintelligible vocal samples, otherworldly synths, and a strong kick. If the original is a lazy river, the KSIA remix is the waterfall. The understated beauty of the original Cub serves as the perfect end to the weekend, which the glittering jubilation of the remix is an excellent kick start to the week ahead.

Cub comes from Solar Bears' 2010 LP, She Was Coloured In. Buy the album here on Juno.

Cub--Solar Bears


Cub (Keep Shelly In Athens Remix)--Solar Bears


¹Who's record label, the one and only Forest Family Records, just announced a new release! Preorder the Eternal Summers 12" here.

Running Out of You

I am the worst intern ever.
Keep Shelly in Athens are a duo out of Athens, Greece. It was just announced today that their debut EP will be released in late November by Forest Family Records. The irony here is that while I intern for Forest Family, until two hours ago I had never heard the band. Oops. To make matters worse, I confused this band with an unnamed demo I had received earlier this year, so imagine my surprise when I pushed “play” and was greeted by a completely different sound than I had expected. C'mon intern, get with it.

But what a nice surprise it was. I’m way too stoked to wait until Sunday, but this is perfect Comedown Sunday music. Pitchfork classifies KSIA's sound as “Balearic,” but it’s only by virtue of their origin. Whenever I hear the word “Balearic” I immediately expect Ibiza anthems or traditional folk music. That’s not the case here. Instead, chill out to down tempo, ambient lounge music, accented by Sarah P’s wispy vocals. Three-fourths of the way in it’s all met by a triumphant triad progression, heavy kick, and a sampled voice declaring “Break it Down!” KSIA are pulling influences from nearly every genre in the book here, fusing them together to create something entirely sexy, dreamy, and new. I’m wary to make the comparison because of what high esteem I hold the following band in…but KSIA reminds me a lot of Röyksopp. Which is definitely, definitely a good thing.

*Vinyl connoisseurs (or anyone looking to start a collection), be sure to pre-order your 12 inches of beautiful beige HERE.

Right Click to Download: Running Out of You—Keep Shelly in Athens