On the rarest of occasions, I’ll actually reach out to a band and express interest in covering them. One such band was Paisley & Charlie, and they were gracious enough to send me a few tracks. The music is entrenched in 60s pop, and features a common trait: sampled intros that lead into Belle & Sebastian like melodies.

The duo’s original group is Detox Cute & The Beauty Junkies, which, at first listen, is fairly similar to Paisley & Charlie. But where Paisley & Charlie stands out is in the orchestrated pop craft; Detox Cute features decidedly more dance-ridden melodies (a la Saint Etienne). The samples, however, remain a common trait.

Where your typical pop band would find fitting the perusal of old 7″ singles and LPs from yesterday, Paisley & Charlie would rather bid their pastime toward early, black and white television. Songs like “Jennifer” and “Withnail And I” find Paisley & Charlie delving into their own, unique pop world, filled with joy and romance and classic television and film.

It’s songs like these that are synonymous with falling in love; one can actually feel the flutter of butterflies growing in their chest as the duo coos Maybe we all thought that we were stars / Maybe we thought we could go far in “Stars”. It’s a rarity in music these days, but boy is it sure welcome.

Paisley & Charlie: Stars [mp3]

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Paisley & Charlie: Jennifer [mp3]

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