Stay Here For A While

Unknown Mortal Orchestra “Little Blue House”

I love how Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s music sounds like it’s coming from a specific time and place, but I can never really figure out when or where. To some extent they’re playing some of the same déjà vu tricks as Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, but while I think that band goes for more of a kitschy “period piece” sound, UMO seem like something lost to time but not necessarily from the past. It’s sorta like how I can walk about ten blocks away from where I live in Queens and end up on a block where everything on the street looks as if it hasn’t changed since 1968 or 1985. I always really love those pockets of the city, in part because one of my greatest fantasies would be the ability to time travel to various parts of New York City at different points in the 20th Century and just walk around. I’m veering off from actually talking about the song — which I should mention has a great subtle bass pulse and some very nice lead guitar — but that whole idea of the relatively recent past living in the present is a big part of why this music resonates with me.

Buy it from Amazon.