Little Sur – You Ran With Me

Little Sur are a folk band from New York. They have recently released You Ran With Me, their second proper release (after their debut Little Sur EP). Songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Josh Meer oversees a revolving cast of collaborators that form the rest of the band. This gives the band a dynamic aesthetic which allows them to tread new creative paths with each release (and to a certain extent within releases).

The band’s sound is heavily influenced by folk music. The twist is that as the band are also influenced by indie rock, presumably due to the fact they are based in the metropolis of New York. The press release puts it rather nicely (and a lot better than I can) when it says:

Their sound combines the rustic orchestrations of folk music with the instrumental timbres and lyrical musings of modern day indie-rock.

There is a lot of vocal swapping during the album, which serves to highlight the band’s emphasis on creative collaboration. See for example the difference bwtween Brothers (in the player below) and the female-led closer Zobeide (The Wake). The most easily identifiable touchstone is other contemporary folk-rock bands such as The Head and The Heart, Blind Pilot and Wake Owl. If you are a fan of those bands, or of modern folk music in general, then I highly suggest you do yourself a favour and check Little Sur.

Check our Brothers (which was released as a single back in February of last year) in the player below. You can download the EP/album for however much you want over at bandcamp, which is a very generous offer indeed.