Work Clothes: hushed, atmospheric pop

Work Clothes: "Fort Bragg Summers"
"Over The Moon"
(from These Are The Shoes We Wear 2005. Buy it.)

"Turn The AC On High"
(from Work Clothes 2001. Buy it.)

Earlier this week, I was thinking about taking a break from the pretty music I've been posting about lately, and putting together a block of full-out rawk for the sake of variety. Then I remembered Work Clothes, and decided to stick with the pretty.

The core of Work Clothes is the husband-and-wife team of Jenny and Lee Waters and their gorgeous voices. (Lee also played drums on another married duo's album last year, the Rosebuds' Birds Make Good Neighbors.) The pair recorded an EP back in 2001 that was mostly just them and guitars. Several of the songs on that EP are listed as "demo", but it was several years before they ever got around to making the follow-up.

These Are The Shoes We Wear actually doesn't revisit any of that earlier material, but it does flesh out the sound with keyboards, drums, and other instruments judiciously added. It's a lovely, quiet record -- not as hushed as say, Iron and Wine, but with something of that feel to it. In a very impressionistic sense, it makes me think of lying on a blanket at the beach or a park on a sunny day with my eyes closed, listening to the distant sounds of the world. Here's a nice article about Jenny and Lee and the album.

Check out Craig's take onWork Clothes from Songs:Illinois here.