Sometimes the best surprises you get in life is when you stumble upon a band by mere serendipity. It was August 2012 and I was diving Scrooge McDuck style through that vault of musical riches called Daytrotter.

Many good bands were found, but a crown jewel came in the form of The Eastern Sea. The first song of theirs I heard was ‘The Snow’ and I got caught by them entirely:

Then it was ‘The Match’, which for a time I really thought it was their signature song. It certainly felt like a major moment in their sophomore album, Plague (review), which combines excellent chamber pop with 70s AM rock, you know the kind: complex, highly baroque and still deliciously catchy.

Eventually managed to get both their debut album and an awesome collection of Christmas songs (including two originals by them). Happy to report this Christmas album has knocked out the holy trilogy of Ray Coniff, Perry Cuomo and Bing Crosby from my family’s traditional listening habits during Crimbo. You can read more about Christmas and literature-influences in our interview with lead singer Matt Hines.

Currently, The Eastern Sea have pretty much left the past in the past and have been performing songs from a new album. These songs sound nothing like what they did before, but the band’s essence is there, caught in a Maelstrom of funky notes, slightly chilling keyboard atmospheres and Matt Hines‘ honeysuckle vocals. Safe to say I’m a big fan of theirs but if you’d seen them 4 times in a week (!), you’d understand how great their live show is.

Incidentally, they are still on tour and you can catch them if you live in Desmoines (July 7th), Wichita (July 8th), Nashville (July 9th), Little Rock (July 10th) and Dallas (July 11th).

Words: Sam J. Valdés López

The Eastern Sea Website. Twitter. Facebook. Last.fm. Soundcloud.