Five Songs That Make Me Wish Winter Was Over
by Leo Maymind, of Spanish Prisoners

Here in Brooklyn, it is still pretty much winter. A few days ago it was 28 degrees outside. It feels like it's been winter forever. I can't remember the last time I went outside and was greeted by heat. In the spirit of sending winter out sooner, here are five songs that make me wish it was already spring.

1. When I Lose My Eyes- Saturday Looks Good to Me.
We played with these guys here in New York last night and a lot of their music just exudes sunlight and warmth and excitement. This song especially makes me think of spring as it tells a tale of spending time with old friends and renewal of friendship. The bouncing rhythm guitar and intermittent horns push that spring vibe. For some reason, they get compared a lot to the Beach Boys, which I don't really hear, even though both bands definitely are good spring weather music.

2. Fresh as a Daisy- Emmit Rhodes
Just a classic spring song. Really catchy hooks that are light and airy. Rhodes is one of the most melodically inventive songwriters I've listened to. His first few albums are (not so) secret gems.

3. Pocketful of Money- Jens Lekman
Jens is one of my favorite contemporary songwriters because his lyrics are usually pretty straight-forward, yet they usually don't go where you expect them to go. This song is all about going out at night and spending all your hard earned green on some strange girl, and I always tend to go out far more in spring than in winter. I'm always holed up in my apartment reading and drinking tea in winter whenever anyone suggests going out. Not happening till spring. Jens knows.

4. Sitting by the Riverside- the Kinks
C'mon, this song is called "Sitting by the Riverside." Enough said.

5. Breakneck Jane- Nostra Nova
Nostra Nova is the musical alias of my dear friend Adam Torres, from Athens, OH. He and I toured together last time it was warmer outside, and his music instantly brings me back to that time. His songwriting is really individualistic- this song weaves a great tale about a murder with a hint of mystery. Available to hear here: www.myspace.com/nostranova

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Take a Latvian-born boy, mix him with Americana beyond his years and add the latest craze of indie DIY instruments - you'll get something along the lines of Spanish Prisoners. Leonid Maymind fronts the band, whose sounds are as diverse as their collaborators. Spanish Prisoners' debut album Songs To Forget is out in the States tomorrow. Something about the name I liked: "While naming an album “Songs to Forget” may appear at first to be a common indierock form of self-deprecation --- don’t be fooled! The songs contained herein will not allow you to forget the music but, rather, time, place, and age; they stand their ground in a world of quick fixes and plastic synthetic futures."

Where God Does His Laundry is something exquisite, a combination of styles that seem to all fit together to make one beautiful puzzle. Think soft guitars and bells combined with Arcade Fire-style lyrics and a rousing chorus that rises almost to the point of climax then slowly drifts back down to something softer, more quietly joyous. But not quite finished, the song takes a turn into a happy guitar-based indie pop, enough sunshine and la-la-la's to fill any sort of Belle & Sebastian/Little Ones type void. Where God Does His Laundry is fantastic, never boring, a new personal favourite and it should be yours too.

Spanish Prisoners - Where God Does His Laundry

And here's the lyrics. Just because I like them so much.

Turn back to when Excedrin was just a funny word. Before I figured out my own body and how it worked. We lived in the scrubbed down part of town where God does his laundry and throws broken popsicle sticks at those girls out front who believe in Jesus Christ but they don’t follow his advice, they shimmer like microwaves, smile like mannequins… shimmer like microwaves, smile like mannequins.

Look at those people out there, such strange looks on their faces. Stumbling about, clutching suitcases, from rickety this to rackety that, scraping grace from their soles at golden surname laundry- mats.

So I’m setting off for places where voices echo free. Vespertine sidewalk lullabies hold the city’s keys. Just tilting and whirling, waiting for June, for I knew where the moon kept her dobro. So I tickle a bug and I watch it run, where folded worries hold no water.

La la la…

myspace.com/spanishprisoners

Labels: mix, mp3, top 5