The Novel Ideas - The Blue Between Us

I’ll make an educated guess that not too many of you have heard of these guys. The Novel Ideas, usually described as a folk rock outfit, hail from the Boston area, and they just released their simply wonderful third album, Home. While some of the higher tempo material of previous work is absent, Home certainly doesn’t lack for emotional tenor. There’s a bizarre and comforting familiarity to their music. In fact, I hadn’t listened to these folks for a while, but my first listen through this album felt like being reunited with an old friend. It takes a very special touch to convey something like that through song.

Their music draws on love, distance, heartbreak, reverie, nostalgia, and as their name suggests, allusions to literary works (my favorite of which is a song dedicated to the contents of The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón) to weave an ongoing narrative. It seems nearly cliche to say this about a band at this point, but their music truly does evoke a whole assortment of emotions. They’ve described their own sound as an attempt to capture the feeling of “the ambiguous hours between night and morning,” and while this may seem like just a bit of silly rhetoric, they manage to absolutely nail it. I’ve been following these guys since my sophomore year of high school, and years later, they’re probably the only band that I still listen to from that period of time. It’s a testament to just how good all of the facets of their sound are.

The icing on the cake with this group is that you can download all of their music (three full albums and a collection of delightful demos recorded last summer) for free right this second on their website. You can also pay what you want for it, which is a fantastic way to support these guys. CDs are available for cheap as well. I know that I’m here every Tuesday recommending stuff to check out, but this week I’m putting extra emphasis on it. If you want to listen to more before you commit to snagging some of their music, they maintain a healthy Bandcamp presence with most of their releases.

Now I’ve been walking home nearly every night.
And here’s to everyone I ever loved but had to leave behind
For the one thing I can’t find, though I’ve been looking half my life.
And it’s damn hard to explain, but I will try it if you like…

As always, enjoy!

-Andrew

(Source: soundboard)