United By Melody, Separated By An Ocean

Holland Buffalo - Electricity
Holland Buffalo - Optimistic

Just a quickie today to bring your attention to the brilliant collaboration between TWNR faves Feedle and the Harvey Girls. The artists started a mutual appreciation society after being virtually introduced when they both released albums on SVC Records. Realising they had more in common than just a shared label and not letting the fact they were separated by the Atlantic Ocean stand in the way of making sweet music together, the boy from Sheffield and the boy/girl duo from Portland, Oregon began swapping ideas over the internet. Thence, Holland Buffalo was born. The four-track EP is released on the Terciopelo Handmade label and available to download from Amie Street for such a paltry sum it’s hardly worth mentioning (but I will – it’s 82 cents or 42p!). Fans of Feedle and the Harvey Girls will be thrilled by the audio fruits of the union – skewed, brilliant, original pop music; equal parts shimmering electronic melodies to harmonious country-blues on ‘Electricity’ and ‘Optimistic’ (which puts me in mind of electronic cowpunks Scott 4, who recorded for Satellite in the late 1990s). These songs are both available to download with this post, but it’s more than worth your while heading to Amie Street to gobble up the whole EP in superior quality, including the other two songs that make up the EP – ‘And Again’, which recalls ‘Murmur’-era REM, as neatly plucked mandolins and Hiram’s world-weary vocal combine with one of those distorted, twinkling smudges of melody Feedle does so well, and the wonderful ‘Spring’, reminiscent of Feedle’s finest moments, with an eerie, disembodied vocal set over a waltz-time drums and a sumptuous, shimmering refrain. 2008 should see a brand, spanking new LP from Feedle in some shape or form, and the prolific Harvey Girls are finishing various album projects.

Here's the video for 'Optimistic' -



Buy the Holland Buffalo EP from Amie Street
Holland Buffalo My Space
Harvey Girls at SVC Records
Harvey Girls My Space
Feedle My Space

Joe.