Not from Texas*
I walked four miles to work today because of the transit strike here in the city... needless to say I'm more than a little bit disgruntled about this whole thing. Thankfully, I got an email from one of the guys in Leander last night pointing me to this song. As such, I have been listening to it on and off today, and it has been making my day quite a bit warmer and sweeter.
Leander in Greek Mythology: Leander was a youth of Abydos, on the Asian side of the strait which separates Asia and Europe. On the opposite shore, in the town of Sestos, lived the maiden Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite. Leander loved her, and would swim the strait nightly to enjoy the company of his mistress, guided by a torch which she held for him at the top of a tower. One night a tempest arose and the sea was rough; Leander's strength failed, and he was drowned. The waves bore his body to the European shore, where Hero became aware of his death, and in her despair cast herself down from the tower into the sea and perished.
Leander the band: from the south of Germany, is the brothers Kranholdt - Daniel on beats, programming, and synths, and Lars on vocals, programming, and guitar. Their sound is indie electropop through and through, but there is something else at play that really caught my ear from the first time I heard their work. This track especially got my attention because of the shuffling, slightly broken, stuttering beats - musically, it reminds me in the best possible way of one of my favorite remixes, Jackson's remix of M83's "Run Into Flowers" - but with Lars' voice and the acoustic guitar layered on top of the chopped percussion, the song feels pretty much perfect.
I don't know if their work is commercially available at the moment, but you can hear more of their songs on their Myspace page, and they've also got another song available for download on their own site, which is a remix they did for a band called Super Boy.
I'll see if I can dig up more information on Leander (the band), but until then, give this a listen and let me know what you think.
*Leander, TX "Gateway to the Texas Hill Country"