(photo: killbeat.com)

It’s snowing like the dickens today, not fit for human or beast outside, so I’m isolated at home with nothing but my thoughts and music to keep me company.  It’s days like this when I get all introspective, and I’ve discovered the perfect soundtrack for getting lost in your own thoughts:  Postdata.

Paul Murphy of the band Wintersleep wrote the words and music, and he and his brother Michael played the instruments in the simplest and most intimate of environments.  The songs started life as a gift for their mother, inspired by their family, and from that most humblest of beginnings, a truly remarkable and moving record has emerged.  On opening track “Lazarus”, Murphys sings, “The whole world’s got Alzheimer’s and we’re just checking in,” and in that one haunting, arresting lyric, the whole album makes sense.  Postdata is a break in the cloudy haze of forgotten memories, intentionally relegated to the back of our minds because they hurt too much, they bring us too much shame, or they just never seemed to make much sense.  It’s the sonic equivalent of finding a dusty and ragged box of old photos of people you once knew or thought you knew, imagining and re-imagining their lives and experiences through the knowledge of your own.  Just wait until you hear the elegant plainness of “Drift”–heartbreak most certainly will ensue.

See what I mean by introspective?

The album gets its official release on January 26, and I would highly recommend you search it out.  Our European friends have the benefit of seeing Postdata live through January and February, and fingers are crossed Murphy brings these incredible songs home to play in front of Canadian audiences soon.

MP3: Postdata “Tobias Grey”
Myspace: Postdata
Twitter: Postdata
Facebook: Posdata