Dear Mountaineer

The evening was kicked off by Dear Mountaineer, a new local band playing only their third show together. Their gentle indie sound tends towards electric folk with some nice harmonies and a female drummer who has a lovely voice. The melodies are simple but effective and there is much more to come from the band. - Glasswerk.co.uk

"That is a beautiful track. It's the sounds of Dear mountaineer and the track's called "Noah". The vocals are delicious. Go and get the single right now. Seriously, you will fall in love with this band. They're making really delicate but confidrnt tracks. I'm so glad they uploaded it to us." - Ally McCrae, BBC Radio 1 07/02/2011 - BBC Radio 1

it gives me a chance to try out the playlist widget below! There's a few familiar names in there that are no strangers to the Kowalskiy blog, and a few getting their first mention. Either way, keep a look out for them in the year ahead. In no particular order, they are...

Dear Mountaineer - David Kowalskiy (Kowalskiy blog)

There are a lot of great bands with animal names. Hell, even a lot of great tracks with animal names (songs by Mew and Walter Schreifels, by the Antlers and the Get Up Kids, by the Shins and Yo La Tengo). One of those is by the Glasgow-based band Dear Mountaineer: The Hare Versus the Bear, the first single (with beautiful cover art!) from their debut album, due for release sometime in the near future. Starting off with an a capella chorus, after guitars and drums kick in the female and male voices go shooting off in different directions. Throughout the whole song, playful like sandbox-mates, the voices interlace and tangle, coming together before falling apart again. Vaguely resembling indie pop wonders My Little Pony and at times even Dear Reader‘s addictive melodies, this track is the little ray of sunshine on a gloomy winter day. - Alice Tragedy (ArtStar/The 405)

Having just recently played at the Chem 19 showcase gig in Glasgow a few weeks back, the band first came to my attention through Halina who I run Olive Grove Records with, or as most of you will probably already know her as being the brains behind the awesome Glasgow Podcart. She suggested that I check them out, I think she was trying to mock me for my love of of twee-pop, but boy did she get it right. They write catchy wee pop numbers and they make me happy, I predict that they might do the same for a lot of you too. - Lloyd Mederith (Peenko/Olive Grove Records)