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Sound Off!: Tindersticks, still smoldering…

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MP3: Tindersticks – Feel the Sun

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MP3: Tindersticks – The Turns We Took

So I thought it was high time for another artist spotlight, and a revival of the Sound Off! series of posts.

Those music lovers who find they are slave to a good baritone backed by effulgent and richly-textured instrumentals (all you lovers of the National, pay attention) would do well to look back into music history. Without much digging, they would probably find the UK’s Tindersticks.

Their first release in years, 2008′s The Hungry Saw, is a slick, nuanced return, recapturing the essence of their oft-cinematic sound. Each track unfolds and builds like the plot of an old classic, impeccably paced with piercing clarity and stunning beauty rooted in the longing vocals of lead singer Stuart Staples.  Their sound and mood easily hops from the smokiest corners of the classic jazz lounges to the majestic balconies of symphony halls.  The vividly plaintive images of “Feel the Sun,” the bittersweet sting of the waltzing “The Organist Entertains,” the sweeping, orchestral grandeur of “The Turns We Took.”  Tindersticks’ sound is diverse, but always distinctively theirs.

Tindersticks return to our shores this year for the first time in over 5 years.  They play the 9:30 Club in DC on Thursday March 5th.