Snailhouse

First, listen to the new Snailhouse song "Birds and Bees" [available as a free mp3 at the Snailhouse site] and I dare you to tell me that it is not some of the most achingly-beautiful music you've ever heard. Snailhouse is Mike Feurstack. Well, more accurately it's Mike's band. He's been playing music I believe at least since the mid-90's and he used to be in Ottawa-based band The Wooden Stars who specialized in an obtuse, fractured form of pop music. Weird, but certainly wonderful sometimes. The Wooden Stars even collaborated with wonderful Haligolian chanteuse Julie Doiron whose own acoustic-based music draws some similarites to Snailhouse. Snailhouse was certainly more difficult music in its early days when it used to just be Mike on acoustic guitar. I remember seeing him live, I believe at the now-defunct Ultrasound Showbar[oh how I miss that place] in Toronto. His acoustic-based music was certainly heartfelt but somewhat off-kilter melodically. His guitar chords were unconventional for pop music, and sometimes made for difficult listening. However, there's been a gradual progression towards melodicism with his albums, especially when Snailhouse became a band. I was surprised to see that Snailhouse will be playing at the Horseshoe tomorrow night [opening for emo-poppers Maritime] and that sudden bit of information has given me the motivation to pull out my Wooden Stars/Snailhouse CD's that I've neglected for far too long. ...Wallow in the beauty.