Blind Pilot (MySpace) creates infectious folk music, or maybe indie pop music, depending on how you want to take it. That’s all I need say about 3 Rounds and a Sound; it spreads through people like a winter cold everyone wants to get. I first heard this Portland band on the University of Oregon campus radio station KWVA, where my friends at the Sunday Night Sleepover spin music. Blind Pilot immediately struck me as a band that knows how to write good songs.
Frontman Israel Nebeker sings of loss and wonder with a voice smooth enough for anyone to enjoy, and every single song on this album is wonderful. Possibly more energetic than fellow Portland-ites Horse Feathers, 3 Rounds and A Sound is also quite relaxing. Songs like “The Story I Heardâ€, “Poor Boyâ€, and “3 Rounds and A Soundâ€, are all beautifully sang and appropriately subdued with instrumentation ranging from subtle horn lines to marimba. The smoothness of this album is incredible!
That being said, this reviewer would enjoy a little more in the way of dynamics, 3 Rounds can be listened straight through without anything really sticking out other than the fluidity of the melodies coming from Nebeker’s voice.
Another aspect I find particularly interesting about Blind Pilot is their love of the bike tour. The band’s website makes this abundantly clear, and I find it only so appropriate that a band that feels so much like the Pacific Northwest should make this a conscious effort in their music.
Israel Nebeker and Ryan Dobrowski prove in 3 Rounds and A Sound that they can produce an album that will turn no one away and provides a message about being who you really are, unabashedly true to yourself.
Blind Pilot: The Story I Heard [mp3]
[audio:090218_blind_pilot_-_the_story_i_heard.mp3|titles=The Story I Heard|artists=Blind Pilot]
Blind Pilot: 3 Rounds And A Sound [mp3]
[audio:090218_blind_pilot_-_3_rounds_and_a_sound.mp3|titles=3 Rounds And A Sound|artists=Blind Pilot]
Blind Pilot: One Red Thread [mp3]
[audio:090218_blind_pilot_-_one_red_thread.mp3|titles=One Red Thread|artists=Blind Pilot]
Expunged Records [CD, 2009]
1. Oviedo
2. The Story I Heard
3. Paint Or Pollen
4. Poor Boy
5. One Red Thread
6. Go On, Say It
7. Two Towns From Me
8. I Buried A Bone
9. Things I Cannot Recall
10. The Bitter End
11. 3 Rounds And A Sound
I am GOING to buy this one!
I left my TV on after Conan one night and heard these guys. I play the 2 songs I have on repeat over and over. Thanks for the third.