My friend Jesse Mangum, singer/songwriter/producer-extraordinaire has been kind enough to give Terrapin Sound an exclusive listen to his new but not quite so new project, the debut album from Gospel Music, Bless Your Heart. I was delightfully surprised.

Owen Holmes, ladies to swoon

Gospel Music is the solo project of Black Kids’ bassist, Owen Holmes, which was recorded in 2007, but is not being released until now. If you’ve ever listened to the Black Kids, you’ll soon understand where the surprise comes in. Where I expected distorted guitars, I heard acoustic guitar. Where I expected an eighties-tinge, I heard warbley vocals. When I expected dance rock, I heard folksy rock. Nothing against the Black Kids, but this was a delightful surprise and something refreshing to the ear drums.

The songs Bless Your Heart range from sounding like reminiscent accounts of family stories to circusy-trances, each suited with its own oddly interesting lyrical content. For example, the opening lyrics on the album, from the song “A Feather’s Better,” are a list of vegetables:

Eggplants, peppers, cucumbers, broccoli
Basil, dill, lavender, rosemary
Our plants grow as if they were family

To be honest, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anything really close to what this album holds. At some points it sounds as fraudulently frail as a Bright Eyes record, while some songs sound like cuts off an M. Ward album. “Sister Green Eyes And Holy Honey” sounds like it was recorded in a barn with a jug band but then on “This Shit is Muscle,” there is an off-beat charm that would fit right in somewhere on the soundtrack to Juno.

Owen recorded the album back in 2007 before the Black Kids really blew up, but it took him some persuasion to actually release the tunes. Thank you to whoever persuaded him and thank you to Jesse Mangum for capturing such an interesting aesthetic in production.

One last note from the Gospel Music MySpace and Reggie Youngblood of Black Kids:

“If you hate Black Kids, you’ll LOVE Gospel Music.” - Reggie Youngblood

There’s probably some truth to that. Anyway, thanks to Jesse and Owen, you can listen for yourself. Download the album (free and legally) right below.

DOWNLOAD: Gospel Music - Bless Your Heart EP

Track list:
01 A Feather’s Better
02 Filth And Thieving At The Continental
03 This Shit is Muscle
04 WWI Dream No. 7
05 Glory Be Till Morning
06 Sister Green Eyes And Holy Honey

Also, for all you fans out there, “a second EP is currently being written and is expected to be released early next year.”

Posted by Joe.