If you like: Sufjan Stevens
Michael Edwards - Board Games and Kitchen Floors
Michael Edwards - The Family Lullaby
Michael Edwards - Mary the Icemelter
No one wants to be known as the emo Sufjan, but that's almost exactly what Michael Edwards is. Not like today's emo. But emo emo, like Sunny-Day-Real-Estate emo. In fact, on Michael Edwards' MySpace page, he lists as his influences: Sufjan Stevens, Mineral, The Gloria Record, Jeremy Enigk, and both his bands, SDRE and The Fire Theft, an odd combination until you listen to Edwards' "Family Album." While his songwriting is another beast, his vocal delivery (for the most part) could fit squarely onto a mid-90s emo album.
And it's no surprise that "The Family Album" sounds Sufjanian, and is maybe even derivative of Sufjan's work. My friend Chas, who has made a habit of writing mean songs about nice people and then deleting them out of (hopefully) guilt, told me that before Michael Edwards recorded the album, he fine-tuned his studio skills recording note-for-note covers of some of Stevens' songs.
This is not to say Michael Edwards isn't worth listening too. If he's ripping off Sufjan, he's damn good at it. His songs are catchy, and he's clearly a skilled musician, playing (as far as I know) every instrument on his album in addition to recording it himself.
And on top of all this he co-founded, with his brother Justin, a sort of miniature mega-conglomerate production co. called Pseudobook, where the two record a number of bands, including The Tapes, Modern Soviet Enemies, and The Secondary. Worth noting: Many of the bands recording under the Pseudobook banner are Christian, like Sufjan. Unlike Stevens, most of these bands willingly reveal their religion, but like Stevens, Danielson, and Page France, none among them seem to be the fire-and-brimstone, overtly-converting type. As a proud atheist, I'm not bothered by their religion, as it seems only to flavor the songs, not drive them. This is not "Christian rock" by any means, any more than the bands mentioned above are.
Pseudobook also produces short films and broadcasts a weekly podcast. Most of what these brothers do is at least worth checking out.
Pseudobook: Website | Michael Edwards' MySpace | Justin Edwards' MySpace | Podcast | The Tapes | The Modern Soviet Enemies | The Secondary
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