Matt Bauer - Wasps & White Roses EP

I am on vacation this weekend/some of next week in Michigan, up on the lake. Good times with the family. I found a wireless internet coffee house finally that's pretty close, so I should be able to keep you informed while I'm away. I'm listening to a load of new music, so I should have lots to write about eventually, even if, at the moment, I don't have lots of time to write about it. Anyway, I might have introduced some of you to Jolie Holland (MOKB Post) a while back, so I've kept an ear out for anything related to her since. An artist who's music parallels Holland's in ways such as tone and subject matter is Matt Bauer.



I checked out Matt Bauer's new EP, Wasps & White Roses on the way up here. It's beautiful to say the least. Bauer is a fellow Kentuckian, so his roots lie in folk and bluegrass. He is not a bluegrass artist however, so you ultra-indie types don't have to tune out just yet. He does play the banjo, acoustic and electric guitar and mandolin, but he uses these instruments to create a haunting brand of folk/americana. On the EP, Bauer has really spiced things up with guest vocals from the aforementioned Jolie Holland, Marie Sioux and Nathan Wanta. At times the songs are sleepy and intimate folk, other times they draw more heavily on Bauer's bluegrass ancestry.

Fans of Iron & Wine will be immediately attracted to Bauer's sound. Wasps & White Roses is out on Crossbill Records.

Matt Bauer & Jolie Holland - 01 - Carve It Out
Matt Bauer - 04 - Sea Lion Woman