Robert Church and the Holy Community - Le Rouge

Well, yesterday I ignored the signs and warnings and ended up getting some sort of weird and wacky flu that lasted approximately 10 hours and then subsided. Sadly that was just enough time for me to miss last night's Steve Earle show. And from what I hear it was beyond unbelievable. That makes me sad. But life goes on and I figured while I'm here, I'll tell you a bit about one of the artists that I've been listening to lately.

The excellent CD-R label Series Two Records sent a whole whack of releases from their roster, and they all display that lo-fi Swedish indie sound that I enjoy so. There are several really good ones, and a couple that I didn't enjoy as much but I thought the first one that I would blog about is Robert Church and the Holy Community.

The band was formed in 2006 by Joel & Rickard, who wrote and recorded all the music. Anders and Tobbe round out the rest of the band, and I think that they're another band that is impossible not to enjoy if you're a fan of good quality pop music, especially the perfect pop provided by our Swedish friends. Right from the get-go, the CD reels you in with a very catchy musical hook, that reminds me of a sweeter version of Sebadoh styled 90's college rock. I also highly recommend them to fans of Belle and Sebastian and Teenage Fanclub. Songs like "Mr. Silent" and "Tale Of A King" are great, the former showing a slightly aggressive side while the latter is much more passive, both working to great effect. The CD contains 16 songs and at 43 minutes, it still flies by nice and quickly.

The best way to purchase a copy of 'Le Rouge' is by e-mailing Series Two Records at seriestworecords [at] gmail [dot] com. I challenge you to sample the mp3's below and tell me you don't want it. Go ahead, try it!

Download: Sunday Love mp3 / Steve mp3 / Train To Asia mp3
Myspace: Robert Church and the Holy Community
Videos: 'Awakening' live at Indie Tracks on youtube