Portland Cello Project ft. Thao - "Beat (Health, Life and Fire)".
Portland Cello Project ft. Justin Power - "Hungry Liars".

What I did was I put five new CD submissions in my five-CD changer and I hit "shuffle". And about ten minutes later I was grinning ear to ear. There were at least two albums in there that sounded great! This is a much higher proportion than average. Then I checked the artists - one of the great bands is... CD 4. The other great band is... also CD 4. And CD 4 is... the Portland Cello Project's Thao and Justin Power Sessions. The two great bands are the same band, and they are not even a band. They are Thao (from the Get Down) and Justin, hanging out with a batch of Oregon cellists (including at least one from Horse Feathers).

Now - I understand why the Portland Cello Project is a good idea. After all, if you are a cellist and an indie rocker it must be fun to hang out with other cellist/indie-rockers and play goose-stepping chamber music. But as one of the few (?) people who heard the first Portland Cello Project album, and also this album, more than half of which includes vocals from Thao or Justin, I have to say: please make a band that is not called the Portland Cello Project and which is not the Portland Cello Project but that is you guys playing cello while Justin and Thao sing. In fact, please make a band that is like most of this album - because whereas the instrumentals are nice enough, the songs with vocals are wonderful, wildflower pop and cockleshell folk, like Nina Nastasia with a twist of the Shins, but not snoozy.

Take a listen! Do. Do not be put off by the name "Portland Cello Project", or by the name "Beat (Health, Life and Fire)" either. As soon as Thao Nguyen begins to sing, I promise you will go: "Hey!" You will do as I did and sit up where you are sitting, and put down your book, and wonder who is this who is singing so limber and loose, but also constrained, like a girl wrapped in tangle and extruding herself, knot by knot, singing "oooh". (It is Thao.)

"Hungry Liars" is different (it is a ballad), yet it is also great. The timbre of Justin's voice recalls Sufjan Stevens but this is not homage; these are two men with similar gentle voices. Justin is much more single-minded in his melodicism; he sings the pretty song like a man walking along train-tracks, undistracted by passing clouds, undeterred by nettles. He will walk until he has arrived where he is going and he is not afraid to walk all night.

[in June, buy The Thao and Justin Power Sessions, which includes three more songs with Thao and three more songs with Justin / Portland Cello Project myspac / Thao myspace / Justin Power myspace]

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This week sees the beta launch of The Mark - a tenacious, illuminating and essential (Canadian) news website. One of its editors is Jordan Himelfarb (of this blog), and another is Claire (who makes a terrific cranberry loaf), and I can't recommend it highly enough.