[mp3] Blitzen Trapper - "Furr"

Last year Blitzen Trapper burst onto the indie-rock scene with a debut, Wild Mountain Nation, that garnered heaps of hype and attention from music bloggers much better than me. They were praised for their Pavement-meets-Southern rock sound, which is a pretty lethal combination, admittedly, on paper. But something about the songs I heard left me cold, wondering what all the fuss was about. I know it’s impossible to like everything, but this was something that should’ve been right up my alley. So Blitzen Trapper, on a smaller scale, were my 2007 “hype hate”, joining Grizzly Bear from ‘06 and Sufjan from ‘05 - widely glorified bands/artists whose music I found soulless, or precious, or just bored the shit right out of me. Hope I still make music blogger heaven someday after saying that.

The thing with Blitzen Trapper though was that they never reached the popularity level of those other 2, so I didn’t feel as compelled to at least try too hard to figure out what everyone else seemed to hear (I mean, I’ve suffered through Illinois like a dozen times and genuinely like “Casimir Pulaski Day” and “Chicago” and that’s it). I read the reviews, and I listened to 3 or 4 of the Wild Mountain Nation tracks that went around. They just didn’t do anything for me. Simple as that. Haven’t listened to the band since - until recently. Not one to hold a grudge, I figured I’d give a listen when a new track surfaced from their forthcoming sophomore record. You Ain’t No Picasso had it first - the song’s “Furr”, from a Sup Pop album due in September of the same name, and wouldn’t you know it, it knocked me on my ass. More understated than anything I’ve heard from them before, it’s a little folk spiritual - a journey through faith and nature and one of the prettiest songs I’ve heard in a long while. Not precious or boring at all, and full of soul. Whomp, there it is.

MP3 :: Furr
(from Furr. More info forthcoming)
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