The One AM Radio: Ushering In 2007

I’m still working through all of this year’s records (as I’m sure you are as well, you frantic list-makers, you) but I think we deserve a break. The One AM Radio has been one of my favorite bands since hearing 2004’s staggeringly evocative A Name Writ In Water, an album that still occupies a singular place in my heart. The album — along with records like Sea Snakes’ Clear As Day, The Darkest Tools and the Clientele’s Strange Geometry — embodies the kind of music I’d like to make if I was more talented, blending the hushed beauty of folk with atmospheric electric and electronic flourishes in a genre I once termed “atmospholk.” Hey, I thought it was clever.

Anyway, The One AM Radio has a new album due January 30, 2007, and judging by what we’ve got so far, it’s going to be pretty fantastic. You can hear “Lest We Forget” on the band’s MySpace; it’s a beautiful, typical One AM song, but with a big surprise at the end. Then, there’s this brittle, brutal song:

The One AM Radio – “In The Time We’ve Got”: mp3

(Download songs from every One AM Radio release at the band’s Web site)