Unsolicited Recommendations: Arrah and the Ferns
So I’ve noticed that all of the bands I’ve recommended so far on my newfangled blog have been safely in the cute category. Matt and Kim. The Seedy Seeds. And now I’ve got Arrah and the Ferns.
The band is from Muncie, Indiana, which automatically endears me to them since my Dad was born in Indiana (a town in the way northwest called Munster — I can say that I’ve seen what the fifties were like, because I’ve been to Munster, Indiana). They’re featured every once in a while on My Old Kentucky Blog.
AATF are sort of twee with mostly girl, but some boy/girl vocals. Arrah’s got a distinctive voice that is like a more easily digestable Joanna Newsom. They have a lot of fun instrumentation, with Wurlitzers and “banjolins” (is that a thing?) all around.
Yesterday I sort of fell in love with the song Tokyo, Tokyo after reading the recent My Old Kentucky Blog post. The lyrics are kind of depressing, but the melody is undeniable. Skatterbrain has the album version on his year-end best songs list (which you should also check out — it has a lot of overlap with mine).