colin meloy: <i>colin meloy sings live!</i>
i’m a big fan of live acoustic albums (a la derek webb’s the house show) that are set in small intimate locations and colin meloy delivers on his latest album, colin meloy sings live! (although i have to admit that this album, somehow, flew under my radar and it actually released in april…). i love these live stripped down albums from singer-songwriters types because of the intimacy and the truthfulness of them. when it’s just a dude, a guitar and a microphone, it’s hard to not bear something very personal. this soul bearing, in turn, brings a certain raw truth that is engaging.
if you don’t know colin meloy, he’s most well known as the lead singer of the decemberists, an amazing band out of portland. what first attracted me to the decemberists is colin meloy’s unique voice and their quirky and vivid story-telling. this live album delivers much of the same, but his unique voice is even more on center stage because of the stripped-down set. so, definitely go check out this album (and all the decemberists albums for that matter).