Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Loving the music of Sunol



I found out about Sunol when I did a bit of digging on 'beach house' on 'the fox is black'... Bobby Solomon spoke highly of them so I went looking for them.

What I found was, in essence, two minimal pages with a beautiful retro photograph on each, some blurb and a free download of each album: 'ohlone' and 'lay in the light'.

I can't recommend either of these albums highly enough. They both feature tracks with a wondrous rich and timeless quality to them. Their sound is a heady and expansive mix of vocal harmonies (reminiscent of Simon and Garfunkel, Beach Boys (circa. Pet Sounds) and Fleet Foxes), layers of percussion (a marimba is in there, I think), lo-fi electronics and even a light layering of banjo or acoustic guitar. A sound that could be considered future-Americana, if a term was needed.

What makes the tracks sound rich, timeless and expansive is the vocal harmonies underpinned by the wall-of-sound from the hypnotic rhythms and instrumentation... it is a cracking combination... and something that feels so right in a post-Simon and Garfunkel / present-Fleet Foxes musical environment.

I would recommend these albums... and would urge you to have a wee listen below. I wonder why they are not on Bandcamp... but am grateful that I can download them for free from their website.

Tx

http://sunolmusic.com/

Lay in the light by Sunol

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