I first caught Say Hi’s Eric Elbogen opening up for Nada Surf at the El Ray in Los Angeles back in 2005 (or was it 2006?) and after a few songs I was convinced.  The dude is pretty good at what he does:  electronic/bedroom pop with apparently the right amount of distorted guitar necessary to warm up a crowd of Nada Surf fans.    Back then he was playing under the expanded- and much sillier- monicker Say Hi to Your Mom.  While the name has changed over the years, the music has stayed pretty consistent.   Funny, I actually always thought of him as a much deserving younger brother to David Bazan of Pedro the Lion and now they are both label mates on Seattle’s Barsuk Records (and also consecutive Limb post subjects!).

While he has yet to create his “break out” album, Elbogen has a handful of pretty good full lengths under his belt over the past 7 years- I’d say his best so far has been 2005’s Ferocious Mopes (”Girl Number 2!”).  Judging solely by the recently leaked track, ‘November Was White, December Was Grey’, his up coming record Oohs and Aahs is more of the “pretty good” and not yet “woah, stop the car!”.  Although to his credit, I’m not sure I or anyone knows exactly what a “woah, stop the car!” song sounds like.  But if we hear it, we’ll be sure to tell you.

Say Hi - November Was White, December Was Grey

(pre-order album)