This is the kind of record that makes keeping a blog worthwhile. I've written about music for more than a decade, and that means a lot of CDs have arrived in my mailbox, unannounced and unsolicited. I have a good idea of what I'll like, and request such things accordingly, The discs I don't request are usually a crapshoot. I'll give anything a few moments of my time, and usually that's all it takes to realize I won't care to spend much more in its company.

And then there is a disc like The Strangest Colored Lights by 13ghosts. I'd never heard of the band, but was intrigued enough by the album title and cover to throw it into the CD player in my car one day recently. It hasn't spent much time out of it since. The band, based in Birmingham, Ala., seems centered on the songs of Brad Armstrong and Buzz Russell. I haven't figured out which is which just yet, but suffice to say that they are very different. The songs here veer from buzzing indie-pop to rustic backporch twang, though that isn't as whiplash-inducing as one might think.

There is an air of mystery to this which I must admit is appealing, that sort of thing that makes a band yours for a while until everyone else catches up. From what I can gather, this will be the band's fourth disc (it is scheduled for release in March) and its second on Skybucket Records. Beyond that, everything I can glean comes from reviews of its last, well-received disc, Cicada. The band isn't much help, offering a quote from Stephen Crane about a "creature, naked, bestial" eating its own bitter heart from its hands while squatting in the desert as its official bio. It takes its name from a horror film, though that seems more ill-fitting than anything.

Still, mystery without good music is enough to keep someone's interest for a moment or two, so while it may help spur people like me to dig deeper, the songs are what will keep me. The descriptions of Cicada make it sound like the work of a band with a lot of ideas and an unwillingness to edit itself, pouring everything out in the hope that something will stick. Without having heard it, I can say this one must surely be more focused. It is diverse, but there is a consistency of tone and intent here. The two singers' styles may be very different, but they don't fight against one another.

The catch with receiving a disc well before its release date is that you can grow tired of it by the time everyone else finally hears it. If that becomes the case with The Strangest Colored Lights -- something I doubt -- it's nice to know there is plenty more music where this came from as I work my way back through the band's catalog.

Labels: music, TuesdayTuneup