It could be the fact that I am looking forward to some actually enjoyable weather, but the tellingly-named Hokan & Friends of the Sun is a pleasant reminder that nicer times are soon to come. The three-piece writes simple indie-folk songs that are reminiscent of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes or Amanda Palmer, but could surely fit in with the "Ho, Hey" culture that has become so relevant in our mainstream. Dare I say, the vocals even carry a twinge of Mumford and Sons, but don't let me fool you with my broad generalizations - for as "mainstream" as I might be selling these songs, they have that perfect sort of quirky charm that makes bands like this so endearing.
First of all, I'd like to say this: we here at buffaBLOG digest and disseminate a lot of music. As long as a song is good, I can get into any sort of recording, whether it's a hastily-done bedroom demo or a legit studio recording. That being said, there's no substitute for some good ol' fashioned production value. Hokan & Friends of the Sun have written some really pleasant acoustic songs here that could have gotten lost on some awful Digitech 8-track somewhere. Their music is, for the most part, pretty simple - I could easily imagine these songs surfacing as some sort of one-take, "let's get these songs done and move on" demo. But this particular batch of songs, entitled Been Busy Dying, falls far from that tree - the songs are carried by usually nothing more than an acoustic guitar and some bongos, but that's all it really needs to let the fun little flourishes throughout the album shine through. I'm talking about the subtle bells, extra percussion, and falsetto oohs and ahhs.
Been Busy Dying kicks off with "Track 1." After a brief dialog (I love when musicians include a bit of "humanity" in their tracks), the listener is treated to a well-placed opening track. The strength of this particular song lies in the motifs that repeat throughout it, namely the two-note piano riff and the rising falsetto vocals that fill the background. As I got further and further into Been Busy Dying, I realized that their songs often find a loose structure to flutter around before bringing the listener back in with something they recognize. "Wild We Are" is another great example of this - Hokan & Co. essentially stop playing completely after the hooky first chorus and repeat the entire song over again.
I mentioned earlier that Been Busy Dying makes use of a basic guitar/bongo skeleton, but really shines with the use of auxiliary instruments. "Starswell," which also happens to be the track with the coolest name on the album, features a xylophone that mimics an acoustic guitar riff throughout the song, which ends up emphasizing it tenfold. One of the tags on their Bandcamp page is "love," and honestly, I couldn't have said it better myself. I don't care how cheesy it sounds, this is music meant to fall in love to.
Speaking of love, the fantastic "Love Tú" is a fantastic Antlers-esque slow burner that makes perfect use of trailing delay and a vocal effect. I found it very easy to get lost in the hazy ambience of the first two minutes of this song. It might be love-overkill, but I love this song. When the song kicks in, Hokan & Co. introduce some more tangible percussion and a droning keyboard - and I personally really appreciate the juxtaposition of an electronic instrument into such organic acoustic music. They close out the track with as big of a buildup as I think they are capable of, a gentle cymbal swell, some keyboard volume swells, a tapping bongo, and vocals. All in all, well done.
Been Busy Dying concludes with "Dayman," which is an ear worm of a closer. Besides the ingenious whistling solo (and not that fake, phony whistling from that Peter Bjorn and John song), Hokan & Co. sing "Give me a sign, tell me I'm blind, whoa-oh. I've lost my mind, tell me I'm fine, whoa-oh," and you get a sense that there's a hint of sadness behind all of this happy music. Either way, it's catchy, and it's beautiful, and it's fun. As a personal connoisseur of sad music, I appreciated this little twinge amongst (what I perceived as) otherwise happy songs.
Apparently Been Busy Dying is the first of three albums to come from Hokan & Friends of the Sun. Keep 'em coming guys.
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