If you haven’t heard of Amble Down Records, you’re just not doing your research.  Early on in my, hopefully still early, music writing career I spent a good deal of my days harassing record companies so they’d send me music I could, theoretically, review.  One of the very first who actually responded to my pleading request were the good folk at Amble Down.  I, like you, had never heard of this Eau de Claire, Wisconsin based label, but was quickly to learn that these folk from the snowy white North, certainly know how to churn out some keepers.  Bon Iver, you’ve heard of him, right?  Justin Vernon, meliflous voice that could emote the pants of your grandmother?  Yeah, that one.  He first recorded, and continues to produce with the folk at Amble Down.  So, they’ve got a bit of credibility.

Meandering introduction aside, I wanted to present to you fine folk, the newest release from these fine Midwesterners, The Gentle Guests - We Are Bound To Save Some Souls Tonight.  Strangely enough, these same Midwesterners have come together to create what, at times, sounds like the underground gypsy orchestras of various no-longer-in-existence Eastern Bloc hellholes.  There’s brassy horns, a get-up-and-clap rhythm, and the general feeling that this music is made for you to, well, moooooooooove to.  And not that Seattle-white-person, knee drop, head shake shuffle, oh no, this music makes you want to reach out grab a large-bosomed lady (or barrel-chested lad) and swing ‘em around in the steamy, confines of an illegal dancehall.  Cigarettes will be smoked, shots of cheap liquor will be consumed, and in the morning all you’ll remember is a the burning glare of neon, and distant thoughts of a warbling trombone.