Pitch to Fit: A Completely Subjective View on the Bands of Pitchfork 2011

Summer is nearly here and with it brings sunshine, exposed legs, balmy nights and uncomfortable rivulets of sweat running down one’s back. The season also holds one of my favorite events, the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago’s Union Park. The annual pilgrimage to the Windy City happens in mid-July, just in the height of bare legs, bright toes and the ultimate deodorant field test. Thousands of the most pretentious music fans flock to this city to be bombarded for three steamy days with some of the most promising bands.

With the realization that many of the members of TWJ will be attending the event (4 of 6), we want to celebrate this great festival and highlight just a few of our favorite acts. The schedule is still being finalized, but hey, it never hurts to think ahead.

With that, we will kick off the musical celebration by highlighting Sun Airway.

The masterminds behind this atmospheric electronic band are Jon Barthmus and Patrick Marceilli from Philadelphia. Together they layer sounds to create rhythmic melodies that transport the listener into the heart of a lovesick crooner. Their latest album Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier surrounds themes of love, protection, honesty, loss and as a nod to the title name, nocturnal symbolism. This is a lyrical love letter.

My favorite track on the album “Waiting On You” grabs my attention immediately. Barthmus croons above the undulating musical landscape, “Don’t go down so gently into those deep wells/ Remember your knees in the wet grass/ I know we’ve been so lost and torn up / in forest so solemn with regret and sorrow.” And for despite being so richly layered, this song, among all other on the album, are easy to follow and the vocals so crisp you understand each hopeful word.

Waiting on You by Sun Airway

Sun Airway is currently touring the US with a few stops prior to their mid-July residency in Chicago. The band takes stage that Saturday. For more information on the festival, visit http://www.pitchforkmusicfestival.com/

See you there!

(Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier is available now from Dead Oceans Records)