Bodies of Water

It happens every year. You’re compiling your top albums of the year (I did this even before I was a blogger, I’m that sad) and then one comes along which throws your entire list into question. Sometimes it’s a hazard of release schedules, but mostly it’s just something I haven’t picked up on before. This year it’s Bodies of Water.

A friend gave me the nod about this LA band a couple of weeks back, and they’ve been a bit of a revelation. I’m still a little suspicious because I often find that albums this instantly appealing lose some of the initial sheen over time, but I’m beginning to lose count of the plays I’ve given their debut album already and there’s no sign of fatigue on my part yet.

In short, Bodies of Water started with married couple David Metcalf and Meredith Arthur who invited their friends Kyle Gladden and Jessie Conklin to join them in the happy band. I say ‘happy’ because Ears Will Pop and Eyes Will Blink is the most joyous record I’ve heard all year. They come on like a cross between Danielson and Tilly and the Wall, having a bit of the former’s eccentricity and intensity but with the latter’s more straightforward pop sensibilities. There’s just something about their all-sing-at-once style, where even the verses seem like choruses that I’m finding impossible to resist. It’s the sort of album that turns a weary winter trudge to work into a playful spring-in-the-step stroll through the rain-splattered streets. Somehow after this everything seems possible. I keep hoping it won’t wear off. It hasn’t yet.

And the end of year list? It’s a shoo-in.

Download: Bodies of Water – It is Familiar
Download: Bodies of Water – Our Friend Appear Like the Dawn

Ears Will Pop… is out now on the band’s Thousand Tongues label, though they’ve recently been signed by Secretly Canadian, so it should be in all those good record stores at the end of January. In the meantime you can buy it directly from BoW or from emusic.