[Editors note: "New Favorite Local" is a new weekly feature where we highlight a local band we've recently discovered, give a quick review of their album and style, and provide an mp3 for your listening pleasure. As the title states, this is a recent favorite of ours, so you will definitely want to check this band out.]

The Sea Navy frontman Jay Cox, originally of Boston, moved to Seattle and with material that he had been performing solo, put together a band and recorded Oh These Troubled Times. Released in October of 2006, this album is chocked full of understated upbeat pop songs that lyrically don’t cover the typical topics of heartbreak and pre-heartbreak, instead dealing with the always difficult relationships with friends and oneself, examinations of the tenuous connections we all have to one another, and the day to day grind of humanity. Cox and friends have crafted an album from simple pieces that when combined create a bittersweet “garage pop” sound that is genuine and without pretense. While the title is a line from the first song, it does serve as a theme throughout the album. Each song develops the theme of “troubled times” a little further, enough so that I wonder if it is wrong to label this a “concept album.”

The opening track “Arctic Advice,” starts the album off strong with an energy filled ode to simply making it through the day. “Action (Above 12th)” is a sweet acoustic song that harkens to local group Math and Physics Club’s stripped down style. The song that first caught my ear as a gem though was “Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived.” This cut is an “I told you so” song, lamenting the poor life situation of a friend who didn’t listen to the advice he was offered. We all have a friend like this, although hopefully not one so difficult to deal with as Henry VIII, as Jay tells me is the inspiration for this song.

My other favorite song, “Avenue A,” is an acoustic guitar song that captures the theme of the album title nicely, talking about what must be a battle with alcoholism. I wish I could have written this song. This verse especially: “Between the bottles and the bottom of the floor, I’m searching for the dignity I had, They take months and they take days and they take years or more, But I will walk away, but I will walk away.” The chorus line of “We’re just strangers on this journey, banging those pots and pans we carry” succintly brings to life a universal element of the human experience; we all can identify with wearing our  experiences on our sleeve. We’ve all got baggage, some are just louder about it than others. The backing synth perfectly creates a weepy atmosphere that sets the mood of the song as sad, allowing for the guitar and voice to remain moving, positive and unburdened with the somber content.
When I first heard this album I thought to myself, “Self, you’ve been dropping the ball on this whole music blogging thing. How did the Sea Navy escape your discerning and insatiable ear for new good music?” After a few listens to this unsigned band, my feelings about it haven’t changed one bit, and this album has been in high iPod rotation. I’ve been trying to fit this band into the popular music family tree and always manage to have a hard time. My closest comparison is The Shins meets Pedro the Lion meets Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. In looking at the band’s Myspace page, both Ted Leo and David Bazan are in their top friends, so it looks like I might be onto something there.

Listen: Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived. - The Sea Navy from Oh These Troubled Times

Related

Interview: Jay Cox interviewed by Metroblogging Seattle

Myspace: The Sea Navy

Official: The Sea Navy