Many warm salutations to you, Reader, and welcome to 2013—a year sure to be full of joy, wonder, and excitement.
Why, exactly, will 2013 be so high-five-worthy? I’m not exactly sure, to be fair, but why not? Let’s start the year off with positivity, why don’t we? Let’s throw caution to the wind, putting to bed our baseless numerological superstitions; forging ahead ignoring all the talk of economic doom + gloom; 100% disregarding this piece from CNN on how 2013 is essentially going to be a long, slow, much more realistic version of various world-ending disaster movies.
I mean, come on! Celebrate! Obama got his second term where he REALLY tell the GOP what he thinks! Same-sex marriage + pot are totally going legit! Downton Abbey’s back! The world didn’t end, for fuck’s sake! That has got to start things off nicely for 2013.
And we can at least look forward to an unprecedented light show near the end of the year, courtesy of the ‘comet of the century’…that totally won’t hit us, right?
Helping us kick off this year of positivity is BOY, a duo comprised of two women—stay with me—that’s based in Hamburg, Germany and plays poppy music ranging from upbeat, dancey numbers with strong hooks to soft, thoughtful, melodic pieces that keep you hitting repeat. This week’s Song is more the former than the latter.
“Little Numbers” starts off with a simple piano riff and handclaps and gradually builds into a beautiful piece of pop reminiscent of Feist but certainly not derivative. Swiss-born Valeska Steiner’s (left above) vocal style actually reminds me more of early Suzanne Vega than Ms. Feist’s. Both she and her partner, German-born Sonja Glass, played the majority of the album’s music themselves, bringing in Phoenix‘s live drummer to help out with a few tracks, and their debut album, Mutual Friends, has already sold over 100,000 records in Deutschland.
The record’s been out overseas since the fall of 2011, but the band’s just now making splashes stateside, set to release Mutual Friends next month on Nettwerk Records and supporting it with a small set of shows across the US in March. They kick things off right here in New York City with relatively intimate shows March 1st at Joe’s Pub + March 2nd at Park Slope’s Union Hall.
Listen to “Little Numbers” and then check out their softer side below with the video for “Drive Darling”…which does not go the direction you first think it’s going….
You can also download a sampler of their music featuring some acoustic versions of album tracks via NoiseTrade and pay what you like and, if you can’t wait for the US release, you can buy Mututal Friends via the band’s site or from their German label.
And stay positive, Reader!
Photo above and album cover below by Inga Seevers.
