Being sick is terrible. I’ve been fighting something nasty since Tuesday. Luckily the worst was out of the way fast — after recording a 101 degree temperature Tuesday night, the fever subsided and I’ve slowly returned to a state that’s manageable. I was still a bit stuffed up on the 25th, but by 10pm all that was left was sniffling and the occasional cough — my regular voice was back.

On November 25, I decided to do something a little different. Not only would I tell a few stories about bands I’ve seen, I’d also take advantage of the vast writings I have here on FensePost and do a few brief readings from related articles. This evening I read snippets from posts about The Dø, Paladino, Letting Up Despite Great Faults, Stars and Ah Holly Fam’ly.

Don’t forget to check out the added words about select songs at bottom.

“Desert Song” by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros off Up From Below
“Don’t Make Me A Target” by Spoon off Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
“Gotta Cheer Up” by Cotton Jones off Paranoid Cocoon

“Slippery Slope (Studio Pigalle Session)” by The Dø

“The Pan” by The Goodnight Loving off The Goodnight Loving Supper Club
“Mexicali Rainsong” by Paladino off Paladino
“Absurd Heroes Manifestos” by Arthur & Yu off In Camera

“Little Notes” by Tiny Ruins & A Singer of Songs off Little Notes
“Two Seasons” by Big Tree off This New Year
“Jephthah’s Daughter” by Ember Schrag off Jephthah’s Daughter

“Childish” by Meyercord off The Childish EP

“Sophia In Gold” by Letting Up Despite Great Faults off Paper Crush EP

“Peninsula” by Death Vessel off Nothing Is Precious Enough For Us
“November” by Y La Bamba off Lupon
“Under the Pines” by Bodies of Water off A Certain Feeling

“Warm Blood” by Seabear off We Built A Fire
“Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” by Stars off Set Yourself On Fire
“Car Wreck” by Foxwarren off Has Been Defeated

“Nails & Wood” by The Wailing Wall off Hospital Blossoms
“All Unfolding” by Ah Holly Fam’ly off Reservoir
“Lemon Tree” by Pree off Folly

Sitting comfortably in the midst of a female-fronted folk set, Big Tree’s “Two Seasons” fit right in. The song can be found on their new LP, This New Year, which came out back in October. Big Tree saturates its music with beautiful harmonies, and blends its folk sensibilities with hints of pleasant pop.

Listen: “Two Seasons” by Big Tree

The Kora Records gave us Pree’s EP, A Chopping Block, back in early 2009. They return now on Paper Garden Records with an LP called Folly. The album finds Pree continuing those unique vocal sounds and finding a comfortable style within the folk-pop genre. “Lemon Tree” was the song of the night, but it’s important to note that Folly is filled with songs just as powerful, if not more so.

Listen: “Lemon Tree” by Pree

Were Isaac Brock to have been born with an extra X chromosome, thus lacking a Y, yet all else have been held as constants, Modest Mouse very well may have sounded like Pree, led by the masterful ex-Le Loup member May Tabol. Like her former group, Tabol’s music is filled with haunting folk melodies.

At least that’s what we can gather from “In The Parlor”; the song is the first single of Pree’s first album, titled A Chopping Block and out stateside on March 9 via The Kora Records. Below is the AON Session Video of “In The Parlor”. While the group includes four, this particular take features only two.

It shows the versatility of the group; the sound is much bigger than two on the videos yet it fits the tune well, as well as four fit it on the upcoming A Chopping Block. I’m just listening to the full, five-song EP in its entirety at the moment, and as each second passes, I am getting more and more excited about this band. Listen to the song, watch the video, and I’ll wager that the same will happen to you.

Pree: In The Parlor [mp3]

AON Sessions: Pree, “In the Parlor” from All Our Noise on Vimeo.