I’ve long believed that adjectives in music criticism are a waste of my time and yours. This is why, in my two years at Tiny Mix Tapes, I’ve deferred (with very questionable success) to lists, theses, and annotations to get the job done. So what might seem like a clever ruse to you is, for me, simply an attempt to avoid telling you what something sounds like and, instead, how it made me think or feel.
And yet, it was after reading Cory’s superlative ridden, Northumbria praise-fest at The Inarguable that my ears perked up. Specifically, it was after reading description after description after description that I thought to myself, “Nathan, you have to hear this band.” So maybe (maybe) I’ve been wrong this entire time. Half-wrong. I don’t know.
Never mind that, though. Because right now I need neither clever ruse nor description to sell you on Northumbria. I need only for you to scroll down to the video below and press play. I need you to venture into the black sea of trees and dwell in your own descriptions. I need you to emerge and tell the world what you experienced. Because this is one band that doesn’t deserve to be lost to obscurity (or my ruses and descriptions), and soon enough, you’ll know it, too.
• Northumbria: http://northumbria.bandcamp.com
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