Saudade.

It's summer on the cover of Saudade's Lookouts' Journal, all sun and green trees, but it's a cold New England winter here and now. No matter. The Portland duo's second release is perfectly suited for layers of brittle leaves, 5 AM snowfalls, and breath visible under florescent parking lot lights.

Here, a series of microsounds tap out a beat, emerging from vacant wasteland noise. There, a piano's caught in some peaceful aural limbo. Powerful, soothing waves of guitar tone that forgot their way home. Wordless, phantasmagoric vocalisations. All is shrouded in an air of fuzz, a fog that binds the disparate musics together in its resolute sonic obscurity, a thick snowfall. I'm reminded of William Basinski's loop-based melancholia, applied to today's post-everything California underground.

Seasonal bullshit aside, Lookouts' Journal is a joy.

Yesterday, this song came on in the car. I took the scenic route home.
Saudade, "Interstate Bridge Song"

downloard MP3

Lookouts' Journal is out next week via Arena Rock Recording Company. Find it at Insound, Amazon, etc.