Regina Spektor, Sufjan Stevens, Neutral Milk Hotel, Danny Elfman, The Shins, Postal Service, Paul Simon, New Pornographers, Jump Little Children, Iron & Wine, Belle & Sebastian, Decemberists, Feist, Final Fantasy, Ben Folds, Eels.
Sounds Like
The aural equivalent of finding a massive collection of your late great-grandpa's weird old clothes in the attic and playing dress-up with all your friends and siblings for hours on end.
Josh Penslar was born on the docks of Weston-super-Mare, England, the ninth child of an illiterate fishmonger. After losing his father in the Great Welsh Plague of 1888, Josh took to the streets as a poor chim-a-ney sweep to earn his daily crusts and stale water. Late one evening, trundling down the icy Weston cobbles to his lonely shack on the seaside, he spied something shiny poking out of the snowdrifts on the walkway. Brushing away the snow, he found none other than a wooden mandolin, whole but decrepit, and his breath steamed over his smiling mouth as he rushed the instrument home to repair it. With his meager means, Josh had barely ten minutes a day to play the instrument, but with tenacity, talent, and more than few frostbitten fingers, Josh became a musician. And to fuel his newfound pursuit, Josh sang chanteys and carols in the streets, earning a grateful penny from the occasional passerby. His earnings were soon enough to purchase a fourth-class ticket on a steamship to Halifax harbour, where, among the barrels of coal and turpentine, Josh dreamed of a better life...in Canada.
