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Alela Diane hails from Nevada City, a forest-enclosed town in Northern California where indie favorite and harpist Joanna Newsom also calls home. Indeed, it was Newsom who gave Diane some encouragement to perform early on. This track from Diane’s sophomore album To Be Still lies more within the folk idiom than Newsom’s surreal, complex poetry, but they both inhabit that slightly off-kilter world of fable-like storytelling. Her and her guitar take the spotlight, aided by some haunted female backing vocals and a light folk backing band. There is a rough and rural sincerity to this ghostly tune that gives the track some extra emotional weight. If you like the track, check out the album.

“Charlie Darwin” is both the centerpiece and the leading track off of the Low Anthem’s newest, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin. The group creates sublime, windswept harmonies and put them over minimal folk arrangements. For all of it’s breezy trappings, the song carries an emotional, hymn-like weight.

Brooke Waggoner has spent most of her young life learning to compose, perform, and orchestrate classical music. This track from her debut full-length, Heal for the Honey is most definitely a pop song, but you cannot deny the influence her training has put into her ornate music. Driven by her fluttering notes, the song is flowery, but smart, expressive, and soulful.

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Holly Conlan’s songs are graceful and lyrical – her lack of pretension, blessed also with fierce confidence at the piano, makes her music easy to admire and difficult to forget. When not performing with her own band at L.A. venues such as Tangier, The Roxy and the venerable Hotel Cafe, Holly can be heard singing back up with Hollywood stalwarts Buddy, Meiko and Gary Jules. She also cut her teeth at 2007’s CMJ and 2008’s SXSW festivals. The Bird EP was produced by Al Sgro (Meiko, Buddy, Gary Jules), mixed by Bryan Cook (Inara George) and mastered by Roger Siebel (Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse). Released in February of 2008, it has already been featured twice on the CW’s hit show, One Tree Hill.

Emily Jane White is a twenty-something vocalist from the San Francisco Bay Area. “Time On Your Side” is from her album Dark Undercoat and it’s finger-picking folk tune underscored by White’s husky, slightly lonely vocals. It has the vibe of that “weird America” sound that many of us love here at iTunes but she trades in arcane mythical references for more concrete, lyrical poetry about life and loves.

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You may have heard Yael Naims “New Soul” in ads for the new MacBook Air. We’re featuring another track from her self-titled album here. “Far Far” has a lulling, intoxicating rhythm – the instruments working within this frame to create a bit of beauty in which the pieces fall together like clockwork. Above it all, Naim’s sweet and fluttering vocals guide the listener into some sweetly melancholic places.

Click here for Yael’s MySpace page.

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