This is the second edition of the new series I began last week. Each Thursday I’ll write a post with three bands: ones I’ve recently discovered and think are awesome and think you will too, or ones that have a new record out. Sometimes (like this week) it’ll be three new releases; sometimes three discoveries; sometimes a little of each. Let’s get to it, to it, to it…

New Release: Josh Ritter – The Beast In Its Tracks

This is a break-up record. Ritter recorded it after his marriage ended, and a 56-second little intro sets the scene: “Last night I saw / Someone with your eyes / Someone with your smile / We danced / And I regret that she asked me to / Cuz she didn’t have your arms…” I love that; it’s so subtly heart-wrenching. One could easily gloss over this brief song in a rush to reach the core tunes – indeed, I did exactly that my first couple times through this album – but stop a moment and recognize how close you would need to be with someone, how intimately you must know them, to notice in someone else a difference so small. The woman had his former lover’s eyes and smile, two features so often put to song. But she didn’t have her arms, and that made all the difference.

Only Josh Ritter could use such an emotional collapse as inspiration for a record as gorgeous as this, full of vibrant, layered songwriting and inimitable imagery. In “Joy To You Baby” he sings “To the lion of evening, with the storm in its paw…” Who else is writing like that right now? It’s what keeps me coming back to his music. If you’ve never heard him before and like this album, I recommend The Animal Years, Southern Pacifica, and The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, in that order.

[youtube http://youtu.be/xwFPq8EItko]

Listen to that track all the way through – there’s a curveball at the end. (C’mon, we’ve all been there.)

New Release: The Cave Singers – Naomi

The Cave Singers play indie/folk rock with a gritty southern twang that belies their Seattle origins. Naomi is their fourth’ LP and second since switching to well-known indie label Jagjaguwar (Bon Iver, Okkervil River, Sharon Van Etten). It’s quite similar to 2011’s No Witch, but I’m alright with that. This is one of those bands that I don’t expect to mix it up. That’s not a negative thing – they have a certain spot and they hit it really well, so I don’t mind if they just hang right there.

New Release: Waxahatchee – Cerulean Salt

Waxahatchee began as the bedroom recordings of Katie Crutchfield, an origin story that is rapidly transitioning from exception to norm. 2012’s American Weekend left no doubt of this with its stripped down nature, but it won accolades for introspective lyricism and its skin-after-a-rug-burn emotion. Crutchfield has returned less than a year later with an album to which I was immediately partial simply because the name includes my favorite color/crayon. The electricity and additional production present in Cerulean Salt represent a clear break from its acoustic predecessor, but connecting the dots is not hard; it’s the next logical step for this songwriter. One cannot remain in bare bones forever (see: Van Etten, Sharon).

Check back next Thursday for another three!