Very pleasant and warm singer/songwriter acoustic pop with pleasant harmonies and beautiful melodies

10 MP3 Songs
POP: Folky Pop, POP: Beatles-pop



Details:
Spade Kitty Records, an independent Chicago record label, has been releasing records by the cream of the Chicago pop scene since 1995. Their most notable releases to date include "As Drawn by Ethan, Age 2" by Hop on Pop, released in 2004, and "History of Flying" by the Paper Airplane Pilots, released in 2003.

Graham Cousens is a singer-songwriter who has been quietly wowing audiences in and around Chicago since 2003. "Living Room Sessions" is a collection of ten simply great songs recorded entirely by Graham at home.

Featuring the bouncy early-Brit inspired "Julia," the country pop ethos of "Comfort Me," and the ethereal love ballad "Help Me Help Myself," "Living Room Sessions" is truly a collection of compositions. Songs such as "So Long" and "When I Was Around," which seem at first to be inspired by the Buckley/Coldplay/Radiohead trend of late, are suddenly transformed and released by an infusion of Woodstock nation harmonies and tasty Les Paul licks. "Lucky Stars" and "Holy Roller" are the fun ones, though each features a unique juxtaposition of sunny groove and dark lyrics. "Emily" and "Anymore" both rise perfectly to the occasion, bringing a slow build to the inevitable conclusion that everything is just as it should be. And "I'm a Gonna" is the perfect classic rock-down that lets the listener off nicely after 30 minutes of somewhat naked introspect.

"Living Room Sessions" delivers what far too few records seem to do these days - a cohesive yet diverse collection of really good tracks, each of which can stand on it's own, and yet the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. In the age of mp3s, CD singles, and throwaway shorts, Graham Cousens has released an album of songs.