The One AM Radio - This Too Will Pass

The One AM Radio
This Too Will Pass

I am not quite sure what is going on, but lately I’ve been getting a ton of great music in the mail. I’m only surprised because 2006 was a year of so many bad or mediocre albums that found their way to our door. It’s sorta weird - the minute I decided to hell with being an “official” review blog, everything started to work out.

Well, I also DO have a soft spot for most of the stuff off Dangerbird too (hooray for SS Pickups). But for some reason I’d never heard of The One AM Radio before. This is the musical project of Hrishikesh Hirway who combines beautiful hushed vocals with extremely smooth and muted beats in his songs. It’s the kind of semi-electronica I can dig - a la Tristeza and Postal Service.

Hirway’s voice exudes unbelievable calm and it meshes with the songs amazingly well. I’d say that on more than a few levels he does remind me a bit of Jose Gonzalez or Kings of Convenience. I think he also might give N. Lannon a run for his money. But more than a few tracks like “Cast Away” and “You Can Still Run” have a Mark Kozelek feel to them - folk-drone shoegaze, or something in between.

Other songs like “Coming Back” and “A Brittle Filament” are almost orchestral or movie-like in feel. Trumpets, violins, upright bass are sprinkled throughout the album liberally among the beats. Interestingly enough, Pontiac did use one of his older tracks (”What You Gave Away”) in a commercial.

His latest album is called This Too Will Pass and I have to say that I didn’t need any convincing - I was into it right away, but then again this kind of music is right up my alley. Very evocative stuff…

Listen:

In The Time We’ve Got
Untied
Flicker

Watch:

Video for the song “Witness”

Visit:

The One AM Radio website
The One AM Radio on Myspace

by Palebear