Donny Hue and the Colors have been offering up a free single a week for the past month. This week, I’m catching up on my inbox… yeah it got away from me again! So here is their fourth giveaway, “My Toy Steamboattrain.” I’ll be honest with you; I dig this song a lot. There are many bands out there attempting to do this kind of retro sound. I don’t think all of them are necessarily improving on what I heard from the 60s and 70s, and I’m not even sure that what they’re hearkening back to was all that great in the first place, (The Beach Boys as one of the only exceptions!) However, a few groups are currently resurrecting those chord progressions, those organ sounds, those whatever-it-is-that-I-can’t-name that makes me feel like I’m watching a Gidget movie. This song does that to me. Someone out there who knows about music, please tell me why, ok?
But Donny Hue and the Colors don’t just do this retro thing. What else I’ve heard from them has been dominated by finger picking guitar, banjo, echoy-harmonized background vocals, that has a bit of the Low Anthem about it but isn’t that quite at all. “Goodbye Pleasant City” sounds like country music but without the twangy-accented, modern, faux-country of mainstream CMT. Sure it has some schtick to it, but it’s pleasantly presented and I think this will find a home in many music libraries out there.
Every song I hear from Donny Hue and the Colors sounds different from the rest. As a band from Brooklyn, they’ve certainly become versatile, able to cross genres and play to many types of audiences. “Steps” will take you tripping down and back again as it swells and surges with distorted vocals and lots of guitar effects. While their first giveaway track, “Oh Lord” is just a straight up folksy, good folk song. Go see them and tell me what they do live, because I simply cannot imagine which of these sounds they’ll choose!
And buy/pre-order this record, Letter From New Virginia right here
Website there’s loads more music on there for you! MySpace
- tour dates with The High Strung -
6.16.09 – Charlottesvile – The Box
6.17.09 – Harrisonburg – Clementine’s
6.18.09 – Philly – Kung Fu Knecktie
6.19.09 – DC – Black Cat
Donny Hue and the Colors – Good Time Happening from The Kora Records on Vimeo.
