Broken-hearted A-side and new sounds on B’s

Berkeley’s Morning Benders have been busy boys. They released their first full-length album, Talking Through Tin Cans, this past May to well-deserved media buzz, in July they offered up a free set of homemade cover songs via their blog, and also dropped live sets via iTunes, LimeWire and Daytrotter. Their choice of covers revealed front-line influences of Brian Wilson, Phil Spector, the Velvet Underground, Smiths, and Cardigans, but also background nods to Roy Orbison, Paul Simon, Randy Newman, and tin-pan alley by way of Ricky Nelson.

Their latest EP, Grain of Salt, opens with Chris Chu warbling in a trebly double-tracked vocal about his perpetually broken heart. Luckily for ‘Benders fans he’s a resilient romantic. The EP’s B-sides include the moody ‘50s-influenced ballad “A Song (Don’t Think So Hard),” the acoustic folk “Morning Fog,” and the terrific Brian Wilson styled “Your Dark Side.” Amazon and iTunes both provide a bonus reworking of the title track that extends the group’s exploration of mid-period Beach Boys. This is nice placeholder while the band works on their forthcoming Big Echo CD. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Your Dark Side
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