Good morning, friends. A quick peek at the calendar reminds me that it’s Tuesday, which is the day that comes after Monday, so as you’ve obviously figured out by now, this post is getting published a day late.

For those who are keeping track, every Monday I visit the “Sign Me to Roadrunner Records” website to find some new music, either from randomly browsing artist pages, or based on suggestions I receive directly from people or bands who are looking for reviews. Then I come back here and describe what I found, so another artist can get a bit more publicity each week, the lovely and intelligent people who read this blog can discover new music to listen to, and everybody wins.

Well, this Monday (yesterday) was a little different, because in the United States, we have a national holiday every year near the end of May, which is called Memorial Day. One of our favorite things to do in this country is to get together with our families and friends, drink excessive amounts of alcohol, eat some meat which has been charred on a grill (as well as side dishes which often contain eggs or mayonnaise or other perishible ingredients and typically don’t hold up very well when the weather outside is hot), drink some more alcohol, sit around in the sweltering heat and humidity, drink even more, and then eventually get into huge fights with our families and friends.

This is pretty much how most of our holidays (between May and September) are celebrated. Now, we realize that some people in other countries don’t have the same freedoms to celebrate like drunken assholes that we Americans enjoy, so we don’t take this for granted! As a nation, we have a long military history, and there have been many wars fought — and sadly many people have lost their lives in the struggle to maintain our freedom and general standard of living. Hence, we have set aside a Monday each year called Memorial Day, where we memorialize and honor those brave individuals, by giving ourselves a three-day weekend and celebrating like drunken assholes.

Fun times, obviously, but between three whole days of parties and picnics, I sort of wore myself out – and by Monday evening I wasn’t really in a condition to do much writing. But I do have an obligation to you readers (particularly those who live in countries where you had to go to work yesterday!), and so I did make an effort to go and listen to something that I could share with you. And this morning, I will tell you about what I found.
 

 
I actually skipped over a couple bands on my quest for new music yesterday. They were probably really good, and I’m sure I’ll get back to those over the next few weeks, but for the way I was feeling, they were simply too loud. All I wanted was to take a few aspirin, sit someplace that wasn’t too noisy or bright, and relax for a while. Eventually I found an ideal soundtrack for that, which was neither metal nor heavy.

Canadian singer/songwriter/guitarist Amy Caudle currently has one song available on her Signmeto Roadrunner Records artist page, her first single “Falling in Two,” which nicely illustrates her abilities in writing and arranging sweet, mellow songs in an alternative/indie rock style, as well as highlighting a great singing voice.

Naturally, this is not a genre or style of music that gets a lot of attention around here, but like I said, sometimes circumstances dictate listening to something a bit more mellow and relaxing. This song fits the bill pretty well; the melodies and overall tone have an ethereal — almost haunting — quality to them, in contrast with the overly sugary-sweet sounds one often expects to encounter with the solo singer/songwriter œuvre. To put it another way, this is more Jewel than Céline Dion.

(By the way, I know Jewel isn’t Canadian, but she’s from Alaska which is about as close as you can get…)

Anyway, getting back to the song – this sounds like one of those guilty pleasure sort of things, like you mightn’t come right out and actually say you enjoy it, but if your wife (girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever) put on this CD in the car, you wouldn’t complain like you do with SOME of the crap they listen to!

Of course, when I refer to a CD, I’m just speaking hypothetically, since (as I previously mentioned) there is only one song available so far. But keep an eye on this songstress (see the links below), because Amy says she is currently working on some new songs with HMP Recording and Development, and hopes to have an EP released later this year! If “Falling in Two” is any indication, it’ll be a great addition to the collection of those folks interested in this type of music, or for anybody who has ever needed to unwind after a long weekend…

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More info: Facebook, Signmeto

I hope you enjoyed this post – please feel free to share your opinion in the comments below!  Until next week… if you happen to stumble across something you’d like to share (or if you are in a band and are trying to get your music heard), just write to me at my Signmeto “scout” page.  Thanks for reading!