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May 15, 2007

Hey You, Meet Au

Another day, another Portland band. This one's more of a guest-laden one-man project though; Au (say the letters, pronounce the name -- Ay you) is the work of Luke Wyland, a multi-instrumental nomad who's buckled down in Oregon and begun to hone his wandering, sprawling psych-folk. On "Sum," Luke starts with bright, breezy bells and a throwaway ukulele spurt, before singer Zoë Wright starts with a gentle Concretes-ish vocal. At about 2:30, it sounds as though Animal Collective's Geologist gets his manipulative mitts on the cut -- which is to say, it begins to sound rather awesome.

Au - "Sum" (MP3)

More of a Grizzly Bear vibe to this one, particularly with Luke's Droste-styled melody -- though in the end it's in line with "Sum"'s sunny-day windstorms.

Au - "Boute" (MP3)

Au's MySpace says "It once was just one, now it is three," so we're thinking live conspirators Jonathan Sielaff and Mark Kaylor are now official. Maybe. Anyway, Au is out 6/26 on Aagoo/Oedipus Records. And clearly, they've got their heads in the clouds about it.

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11 Comments

sum is tasty.

Posted by: miguel at 05/15/07 6:03 PM | Reply
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yeah. pretty good. it's nice to see that Sterogum still does music reviews.

Posted by: Colin at 05/15/07 7:18 PM | Reply
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This is really fantastic.

Posted by: Tom at 05/15/07 9:22 PM | Reply
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Wow this stuff is amazing. I'm buying one for all my friends!

Posted by: Jeff at 05/16/07 2:47 AM | Reply
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jeez louise, this gets me turning!

Posted by: nicholas at 05/16/07 2:38 PM | Reply
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Excellent. and it gets better with each listen.

Posted by: Erik at 05/16/07 3:43 PM | Reply
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i think that "nice to meet au" could have been a good pun too

Posted by: aja at 05/16/07 5:42 PM | Reply
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I can only listen to this when I'm falling asleep or really stoned, otherwise this, and many other "psych folk" artists suck. What ever happened to rock and roll? Now bands only care about making crazy noises thus deeming them intellectual depth or something. Bring on the Andrew WK and lets party, bro.

Posted by: jason at 05/17/07 4:29 AM | Reply
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wow. Such a good sound.

Posted by: rachel at 05/17/07 12:01 PM | Reply
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yeah, this is growing on me

Posted by: jim at 05/23/07 11:56 PM | Reply
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This music makes me remember that I am filled with circulating blood. Seattle loves you personally and we better see you soon.

Posted by: Girls Club at 06/27/07 3:40 PM | Reply
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