Branches : Innovative, Remarkable & Mind-Blowing

Finding someone to write about today was a great deal easier than yesterday. I was sitting around playing the riff to "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes, when I decided to check out a couple covers on Youtube. Amongst them was a genius cover by Branches, an indie-rock band from California. According to their Facebook page the members of this innovative band are Tyler Madsen, Natalie Nicolas, Jacob Montague, Tyler Goerzen, Mitchell Dong and Michael Springs. I assume Natalie is the lady on the piano, whose vocals blew my head off. I loved it. Partially because of the contrast with the other vocalist but also because of the way she just attacked that first note. Check it out for yourselves!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl-FGk7rOec

I loved it! And I have to admit that the whistling at the end sort of reminded me of Foster The People's "Pumped Up Kicks". In any case I think it's such a great take on what I consider one of the most powerful rock songs of the 2000's decade. I'm not sure how they managed to get those unusual, almost Pink Floyd influenced background sounds, but I do like them. And the member hiding in the back playing that mandolin can't be ignored. It almost sounds as if "The Godfather" theme meets the White Stripes. And once again, not enough can be said about that pianist. Her vocals are truly out of this world.

After I listening to the cover a couple times, I subscribed to Branches youtube channel and checked out their Facebook page, something that I urge you to do too. They've got a bunch of nice covers as well as some tasty originals. And though I was tempted to write about their cover of Haddaway's "What Is Love", because I'd never heard a cover of the song before, I decided I'd share their cover of Albert E. Brumley's "I'll Fly Away". I mean, I respect Haddaway, but "I'll Fly Away" is my personal favourite Brumley track. The video is real simple, but incredibly stunning at the same time. This time three band members are present and their voices blend together beautifully. This time the mandolin man seems to be playing slide guitar, ever so gracefully. Have a listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5MyRviVrCI

Smooth, right? I admit, I like to hold my guitar a little lower but whatever works. The man seems to have a certain charisma about him, luckily, since it probably takes a lot of electricity to stand between two so incredibly talented people. He seems to glue it together. And once again, the girl who I assume is Natalie just blows me away. She follows the tune like a shadow and makes love to the melody with her vocals.

Now, if you liked that, you're going to love their originals. An original of theirs entitled "In The Morning" proves what an innovative band they are, as well as how passionate they are about music. I don't even know if they do it for the music or if they do it to communicate with each other. Slamming doors, jangling keys and stomping on the ground make up part of this remarkable song of theirs. I wish I had a CD of theirs, that's all I'll say! Check back tomorrow for another fantastic artist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiHNj724vC4

Alex Hamel