Pearly Gate Music

2010 release from the Seattle outfit led by Zach Tillman. Listening to Pearly Gate Music is like descending the rabbit hole: you don't know where it will lead. The same as with music recommendations: one leads to another, and to another. In this case, Simon Raymonde at Bella Union first heard of Fleet Foxes, which introduced him to Josh Tillman, the band's drummer turned solo artist, which then led to Josh's younger brother Zach. For someone who considers himself to a 'junior songwriter' from his time at local record label, Barsuk, Pearly Gate Music seems amazingly mature, opening with 'Golden Funeral', the most spellbinding intro you're likely to hear this year, with hushed, distant, hymnal chords and trickles of rain sounding like they're suspended in mid-air!