National Flower - State Line to State Line (2012)

Tracklist

01. Speeding Train
02. Waist High Grass
03. Dandelion
04. Darlin
05. Over Again
06. Fast As Hell
07. Drag the Lake
08. Easy
09. Common Mistake

Michael Sheridan’s National Flower is a hidden jewel of the Pacific Northwest, refreshing the well-trod tracks of the mid-tempo chamber pop genre with bright melodies and subversive, evocative, bittersweet lyrics. Their newest record, State to State Line, is an aching, low-key masterpiece about a man trying to keep out of his own way and find a way into his own life. The album is shaded by colorful and subtle arrangements by multi-instrumentalist Joe Cunningham (Blue Cranes) and the note-perfect accompaniment of Ji Tanzer (Blue Cranes and Rebecca Gates Consortium), Rebecca Sanborn, Kyleen King and Sam Howard. With State, Sheridan was able to conjure the rarest of singer-songwriter alchemy, writing songs that are sweet without being saccharine and sharp without drawing blood. Portland’s music scene is excellent when it comes to collaboration–you never know who will join whom on any given night. With Sheridan’s soft and soothing vocals on top of a number of instruments–guitar, pedal steel, saxophone, accordion, glockenspiel, organ and melodica, to name some–the sound spans genres of folk, Americana and pop.

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