SONG OF THE DAY: "Free Tonight" by Northcote

I first discovered Northcote in 2009 when he (the band is essentially Matt Goud's solo project with the help of some backing musicians) began touring with Dave Hause, one of my favorite songwriters whose own solo career was just in its infancy. I gave Northcote's first EP/album, 2009's Borrowed Chords, Tired Eyes a few listens, and I enjoyed it well enough. His voice was fantastic and the songwriting was great, but it was a bit too somber and subdued for my tastes, and I moved on to other things with the intention of checking back in with Northcote if he released anything new.

Well, that's not what happened. His 2011 album Gather No Dust came and went under the radar and I largely forgot about Northcote's entire existence. But, sure enough, soon after last year's release of the self-titled Northcote and Hause's incredible, career-defining Devour, Mr. Hause announced that he and Northcote would be touring together in support of their respective albums once again.

Now, at this point, I still had not given Northcote a listen. I figured I knew what to expect: quiet, slow, melancholy ballads much like the first time around. And, seeing as I'm rarely in the mood for an entire album of such music, I tossed the album in my ever-growing "to-be-listened-to" playlist on Spotify, where it sat for about a month.

Huge mistake. When I finally got around to listening to the album a few days ago, I was blown away. The only things that remained of the Northcote I once knew were the strong songwriting and beautiful, heavenly voice. Gone were the slow, sad songs, and in their place were incredibly uplifting, mid-tempo songs with fully fleshed-out arrangements, percussion, electric guitars, and horns. I couldn't believe I had been missing out on this all year. It was love at first listen.

Northcote's new album reminds me a bit of Bon Iver, only if Bon Iver's songs inspired me to sing and dance instead of inspiring me to take a nap. Due to Northcote's relative obscurity, there was only one song from the self-titled album on YouTube, and it was not very representative of the whole album. So, I leave you with the single "Free Tonight" from Gather No Dust, which has a nice video and proves to be one of his strongest songs yet. Give it a listen, and prepare to fall in love with acoustic indie music all over again!

Dave Hause and Northcote will be playing at Schuba's Tavern in Lakeview, Chicago, IL on February 13th. Tickets are $12: http://schubas.com/Shows/02-13-2014+Dave+Hause