Wes Swing, Andrew Bird, Aunt Martha [monday Threesome]

Welcome to another edition of Monday Threesome, where we give you a weekly fix of awesome music you should be paying attention to. This week you may notice a strong theme — each of these artists specialize in lush and pretty pop music. We hope the soothing vocals and lovely strings will warm you up now that the days are getting a little chillier.

Through a Fogged Glass – Wes Swing

Cellist and singer Wes Swing (@wesswingmusic) understands the meaning of the word lush. “Lullaby” features a baroque mesh of finger picked strings, gorgeous and full bowed cello, beautiful lead and harmony vocals, poetic lyrics and what sounds like xylophone. This is truly “Classical Pop”, as Swing understands both of these respective genres and the perfect way they can melt together. His newest album is an affordable 10 dollars on bandcamp, where it can be streamed in its entirety for free. He is also offering bonus tracks from the album for free download on his website.

Tenuousness – Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird (@andrewbird) is another expert at a traditionally classical instrument (and whistling!) who uses it in the service of lovely pop music. Mr. Bird has slowly become something of a household name (see this hilarious video), and he very much deserves it. For those of you looking for a fix while you wait for a new album, his MySpace features clips from more recent releases (including Useless Creatures which is completely instrumental and perfect). His website also features two incredible live videos, one of him performing at Cemetery Chapel and another of him playing within an exhibit at the Guggenhim. Finally, NPR’s page on Bird has a wealth of complete live concerts and in-studio sessions. I’m particularly partial to the newer concert, recorded in Philadelphia in 2009.

Aunt Martha (@auntmarthaband) is one of those wonderful bands who offer a ridiculous amount of music for free. Their newest album, Norway, ME, is filled with intense and lovely songs that have particularly beautiful instrumentation. The first track, “Starter”, fittingly begins with a stripped down acoustic sound, but soon adds multi-track vocals, synth, electric guitars and harmonica. Everything is very tastefully arranged to avoid being bombastic, while the intricacies heighten the overall emotional experience. Their EPs The Abandoned Bedroom Sessions and Bonnaroo Cover Madness are also very much worth the download.  Listen to the acoustic and violin cover of The Black Keys’ “Tighten Up” and the lovely stripped down cover of Arcade Fire’s “Rebellion (Lies)”.  Enjoy and buy a shirt or a cd to support them!