David Vandervelde - "I Will Be Fine"

Download: David Vandervelde - "I Will Be Fine"

Over at the forums on music blog aggregator Elbo.ws (a site we may or may not mention), at least twice every 30 days, there's been a discussion of what are 2008's most overlooked records, inspired by Pitchfork's post-festival attempt to do the same. My contenders for this year include Dosh's Wolves and Wishes (mp3); Head of Femur's Great Plains (mp3; and, agreeing with the 'fork, Ponytail's Ice Cream Spiritual (mp3).

In addition to this year's records, I thought about last years. One of those albums was David Vandervelde's The Moonstation House Band (mp3; mp3). It's an album that clearly wears its glam-rock influences on its sleeve. The most obvious reference points are David Bowie's Ziggy-period work and T. Rex. While the sound may not be original, the amount of craft that went into the songs (particularly on "Nothin' No", where fuzzed-out, multi-tracked guitars and sitars made for an irresistibly easy going track) was more than apparent. Moonstation was a taut, ten-track set that earned solid reviews for the most part, but seemed to be forgotten come best-year time.

His second album, Waiting For The Sunrise, could be another candidate for overlooked record. "I Will Be Fine" , the first single from Waiting for the Sunrise, is a similarly-minded song that, while emulating soft-rock more than glam (which is a mistake, I think), contains enough glorious harmonization that would make Fleet Foxes fans wonder if they've gotten on the wrong ship. However, unlike Foxes' mammoth popularity, Vandervelde is nowhere to be found on Elbo.ws.

I don't think there's a conspiracy of any kind. Just that people have gotten caught up with hype surrounding other acts; happens all the time. But, if you find yourself just waking up with the sun, you can do no better than to have "I Will Be Fine" as your background music. Listen to the track at the top of the post.

Waiting For The Sunrise is out now.

(Jonathan Graef)