(photo: John Londono)

While listening to Rich Terfry on CBC Radio 2’s Drive yesterday afternoon, I heard a band from Montreal that I wasn’t at all familiar with, but immediately taken by.  As soon as I got home, I did some quick searching and discovered that The Blue Seeds are singer Amélie Laflamme and musician/songwriter François Dufault, with Marc Chartrain on drums, Patrick Hamilton on bass and Roger Miron on lead guitar.  Their atmospheric indie roots rock calls to mind the Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazelwood collaborations albeit with a modern sensibility.  Their self-titled first full-length album was released last year after a promising debut EP a few years earlier.  It’s moody pop married with Laflamme’s sultry vocals reminds me of Portishead, if not in musical arrangement than definitely in style (see “Lost and Delirious”).  “Outside The Rain Falls” has a sleek, sexy bluesy-country twang, while the bounce in “My Fair Weather Friend” instantly hooks you in, so by the time you get to closing lullaby “I Dream a Little Dream”, The Blue Seeds will have won you over with their non-descript, honest and infectious sound.

The band are about to release the album in France, so they’ll be heading over there in April for a couple of shows, but other than that, it seems things in the band’s camp are going to be quiet for the next little while.  For now, we can go back and enjoy the hidden treasure from last year while waiting for something new.

MP3: The Blue Seeds “My Fair Weather Friend”
Video: The Blue Seeds “My Fair Weather Friend”
Myspace: The Blue Seeds