Although vocals appear here and there, Every Gentle Air specialize mostly in dreamy, instrumental pop music.  Their most recent album, Pt. 2, was recently re-released by Kansas City label The Record Machine complete with new packaging and artwork (anyone who had bought the cd when it first came out knows each copy was originally hand painted- fun!).  My good friend Corndog was one of these people and the first person to introduce me to the band. 

Back in March, Corndog played Pt. 2 for me on our road trip to Lake Tahoe.  After my initial shock that Corndog had bought a cd that didn’t sound like Unearth or some spastic hardcore band, I settled into the record, and we ended up listening to it multiple times over the course of the trip.  The songs that stuck out to me then, and the tracks I immediately looked for when I received this re-release in the mail, were ‘the Sower’ and ‘Ann Arbor Michigan’.

‘The Sower’ begins like any good instrumental album must.  With a slow fade in and a promise of layered, beautiful, other wordly goodness.  The guitars and piano mesh with the drum beat to form a blanket.  Wrap yourself in it, won’t you? 

The other track I’ve included, ‘Ann Arbor Michigan’, is a slow starter but stick with it and around the 1:26 mark your face will melt off in surprise.  A discordant guitar line jumps out from nowhere and dominates the rest of the song.  It is a brilliant build up and payoff.  If you like either of these two tracks I’d recommend dropping some dough on the whole package.  Hand painted cd or not, it’s worth it.

[mp3] Every Gentle Air – The Sower
[mp3] Every Gentle Air – Ann Arbor Michigan

Edit:  The link for the second mp3 has been fixed.  Sorry!