Wednesday: The Dear Hunter - Is There Anybody Here?

     Regular readers will know by now that, although this is ostensibly a blog about heavier music, when I find something that's good, I calls 'em like I sees 'em whether it's metal or not. If your musical taste is, shall we say, more limited, hopefully I've been able to teach you that there's good stuff out there in virtually every genre. If, however, this is a lesson you've yet to absorb, I've got just the band for you.

     The aforementioned regular readers (I know you exist, I just know it!) should at least have heard the name The Dear Hunter before, but for the latecomers: singer-songwriter Casey Crescenzo started genre-spanning prog rock act The Dear Hunter as a side project while he was in post-hardcore outfit The Receiving End of Sirens. Unfortunately, the promising Sirens have since broken up, but the silver lining to that cloud is that The Dear Hunter has become Casey's main project -- and what a project it's been!

     So far, The Dear Hunter's catalogue includes four album-length "acts" of a planned six-act/album arc, the Colour Spectrum album/set of EPs, the 2013 "one-off" album Migrant, a couple of live albums, and a handful of other EPs -- all in the last ten years or so. Busy guy, right? Even better than Casey's prolific productivity is his wide-ranging creativity: it might not be metal, but The Dear Hunter songs always have enough cool bits to keep even metalheads like me interested. Case in point: "Is There Anybody Here?", taken from The Dear Hunter's latest record Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise, a melancholy, dreamy, downtempo kind of number that morphs into a big rocking guitar solo towards the end, reminiscent of classic rock legends like Pink Floyd. Appetite whetted yet? Thought so. Check it out.

Sunday: The Receiving End of Sirens - The Rival Cycle

     You should all know by now that I like it when there's a common theme connecting my Song of the Day posts together. Even if this connecting thread is so thin as to be practically non-existent, I derive a certain dorky pleasure from its mere existence.

     Lucky for me then (and you too!) that this song has a nice chunky connection to "yesterday's". Before fully setting out with his more-or-less solo project The Dear Hunter, Casey Crescenzo was in an emo/screamo/post-hardcore-type outfit called The Receiving End of Sirens. Casey's time with the band was somewhat short-lived, ending when he left the band in 2006 (temporarily -- he wasn't done with TREOS yet...) to dedicate his full attention to The Dear Hunter project, but it did produce a pretty classic album from my younger years.

     Your Sunday song is therefore a track from said album by The Receiving End of Sirens, Between the Heart and the Synapse. "The Rival Cycle" is a pretty decent representation of what TREOS is all about. It is, like I said, what might politely be called "post-hardcore" these days, by which I mean it could be a little "emo" sounding for the trooest of metalheads, but there's no eyeliner or anything here so don't let that whiff of something you think is bad dissuade you from checking out "The Rival Cycle".

Saturday: The Dear Hunter - Mr. Malum

     I hope your Saturday past was as chill as mine was (an afternoon movie and then an evening of boardgames) because I'm going a little less metal and a little more mellow for your Saturday song.

     I've written about Rhode Island prog-rock act The Dear Hunter before, but it's been a while and they've been popping up quite a bit on my shuffle lately. They might be a bit of a departure for some of you; their stuff spans a variety of genres and styles, but metal isn't really among them. Nevertheless, there's enough interesting musical ideas going on here to keep you going, I promise.

     Your Dear Hunter track for last Saturday is "Mr. Malum" from the 2011 Colour Spectrum series of EPs, a typically off-kilter showcase of multi-talented frontman Casey Crescenzo's ability to write weird little pop operas. Check this one out, and even if this one isn't your flavour, check out some other Dear Hunter, because he's put out enough cool stuff over the last few years that you're bound to find something that tickles your fancy.

Song of the Day: The Dear Hunter - This Body

     I don't know if you've ever heard of The Dear Hunter. I hope you have, since I've written about them before, but maybe you're still in the dark. If that's the case, then it's time you saw the light -- every single colour of it.

Yesterday's Song: Numbers - Oh Teh Monies

     I know this is getting a little old, but it is what it is. Old habits die hard, so what can we say about the longevity of bad habits? Hopefully that it's short-lived. All I can promise I'll try to get the Song of the Day train back on track. That said, let's get to yesterday's song.

Song of the Day: The Receiving End of Sirens - Planning a Prison Break

     Like a drowning man grasping at a piece of wreckage that until recently was part of a boat, I'm going to cling to a theme from yesterday's song to arrive at today's. And that theme is Casey Crescenzo.

Song of the Day: The Dear Hunter - In Cauda Venenum

     Ever heard of The Dear Hunter? No? I'll forgive you, since I don't think I've written about them yet. But after today you've got no excuse, OK?