FAVORITE ALBUM #9

#9 PLACES / GEORGIE JAMES [taste] [buy]

key tracks: need your needs / cheap champagne / you can have it / aftermath / comfortable headphones

after q and not u went splitzville in 2005, drummer john davis hooked up his friend laura burhenn, an accomplished songstress in her own right, and the two christened themselves 'georgie james,' which, according to the band, was a little bit androgynous, a little bit glam. all i know it's a whole lot of awesome. if you're looking for the best harmonies committed to tape this year, look no further than georgie james incredible debut, 'places.' not since alan sparhawk and mimi parker have two voices so seamlessly and effortlessly blended.

'places' is an album that completely took me by surprise. i had never heard a q and not u song [and i still haven't]; and, well, i'd never heard a laura burhenn song either. it was only by chance that i can across 'places.' it was one of those albums that had been sitting in my itunes for, like, forever. i think i randomly picked a track and happened to land on 'cheap champagne.' talk about energy! and there was just something so distinctly american about it. given the amount of musical crap we produce, it was all the more refreshing. from the opening strums of 'look me up'--a clever opener for sure--to 'aftermath,' its heartbreaking, elegiac closer, 'places' is the sound of confident, self-assured band brimming with superb pop sensibilities. of course, when you're talking about two folks as prodigiously talented and john davis and laura berhenn, that kind of confidence is a given.