The All New Adventures Of Us
by Sonic alchemy, lyrical mastery and melodies to melt even the coldest winter heart, anyone? I introduce you to my new favourite indie darlings: The All New Adventures of Us (alternatively nicknamed TANOU). With their offbeat blend of indie pop, this seven piece British outfit evoke elements of their most talented contemporaries such as Belle & Sebastian, Connor Oberst, Sigur Ros, Ben Folds, and even the fragile vocal sensibility of Elliot Smith.
The seven adventurers spend most of their days in a studio in Umea, in the North of Sweden, with friend and practical eighth member, Magnus Lindberg (who also plays in the band Cult Of Luna) constructing silly things out of string and making tummy achingly beautiful music.
With tinkling string arrangements coupled with lyrics such as ‘Home’s not a place, it’s not roads, nor walls, street signs, bed-sheets or local swimming pools … it’s the waves, the smiles, the pleasantries, those loving kicks in the shin when you forget to breathe’, you may very well need someone to kick you in the shin, because if you’re anything like me, this music will take your breath away.
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Also by MONIQUE ROTHSTEIN
We checked in with Sydney-based songwriter Fergus Brown to get the inside story on his wonderfully quirky and catchy pop song, Nerds In Love [below]: ‘It was was a fun song write. Some songs can be tortuous, but this was an imagined, tongue-in-cheek vignette of my life spent together with a certain girl I’d seen around. That’s all it was. At least, until a friend of mine blurted to this girl that I’d written a song about her. And he gave her a copy. We’re friends now. She’s a very talented, and successful, visual artist. She was flattered. Recently, I heard that another person thinks it was written about them. I’m looking forward to that awkward conversation sometime in the future’. Fergus Brown has just been announced as the support for American singer-songwriter, Martha Wainwright on all eleven shows of her Australian tour.
She & Him are actress and closet singer-songwriter, Zooey Deschanel (Almost Famous, The Good Girl, The Assassination of Jesse James), and juggernaut producer, one-man band and folk troubadour, M.Ward. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (2)
Philistine said | 28 June, 2009
Love your writing, Monique. You are an anomaly.
HAVE YOUR SAY
This beautiful archival pigment print by New York-based illustrator, Fernanda Cohen, is called Fashion Ruined My Life. And it speaks for itself. Just look at her face! We have it for sale for just $75 in the Lost At E Minor online store.
This water theatre by the British architect, Sir Nicholas Grimshaw of Grimshaw Architects, takes the form of a vertical seawater greenhouse, with the evaporators and condensers stacked vertically to maximise yield. The structure is not only a visible engine of sustainability but is also a large theatre auditorium. Read more
Designed by Andrea Corson, the Caviars Round Top Ring, is made from sterling silver. The Caviars sparkle like diamonds, sitting upon an organic band. We have it for sale in the Lost At E Minor online store.
I have a weak spot for the work of New York illustrator You Byun. Her pastel, Miyazaki-esque landscapes populated with their saucer eyed creatures just make me swoon. It reminds me of several other well-known illustrators working today, but I feel that she is onto something spectacular that will simply continue to evolve until we’re all just utterly blown out of the water.
Marton Schoeller’s new book of portraits aims to highlight the contrast between the extreme physiques of female bodybuilders and the vulnerability expressed through their eyes and nuanced facial expressions. Read more
If animated wall drawings of severed heads and insect men ejecting their brains from their craniums is what people produce when they have too much time on their hands, then we should do their laundry for them and cook them dinner so they’ll have even more time on their hands.
The frontman for Sydney trailblazers, Paper Scissors, has just dropped his first solo EP under the alias of Pork Pies, and it’s an absolute beaut. Like the Paper Scissors’ more low-key numbers, there’s a real feeling of raw nostalgia running through the record. Jai Pyne’s distinctive vocals linger on your eardrums for a while after they’ve ceased, anchored down by a poignancy and sense of longing.
WE'RE RESPECTING
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Good thing Kris Kuksi channelled the trauma of growing up with an alcoholic stepfather, his disdain for ‘the typical American life and pop culture’, and his fascination with the macabre into obsessive, baroque assemblages, paintings, and drawings. Read more
Alex Passapera’s dizzying pen and ink drawings are cascades of images melting into one another, often looking like contorting, mutating creatures spewing blood-like ink splatters. Read more
Check out Mike Stimpson’s Lego reinterpretations of classic photographs. Stimpson’s version of Malcolm Browne’s iconic 1963 photograph of the self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc is particularly twisted. Read more
Hong Kong-based illustrator Man-Tsun draws dark and beautiful painterly images that look like they are straight off a high-end Japanese animated film. Read more
Charlie Immer’s pastel-pallete sometimes obfuscates the gory violence in his surreal images. At other times, it heightens the gut-wrenching and visceral effect of his work. Read more
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
Too sweet for words, these beautiful hoop earrings by Sydney-based designer Carmel Taylor are a real touch of origami for your ears. Read more
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Jaime C. Macefield said | 30 August, 2008
well, well, well. Three holes in the ground.
You are just lovely
Thank you.
xo