In session in my August show - Emily & The Faves

When I encountered Emily & The Faves supporting Lovecraft earlier this year, I found the three-piece battling against somewhat unhelpful conditions. The sound in the venue was completely off, and a lesser band may well have succumbed and used the excuse to blag a bad gig. This is not a lesser band, however, and I came away feeling I'd experienced one of the best gigs of the year.

Emily & the Faves have now released their debut album (available from itunes and Probe Records in their home city of Liverpool) and a remarkable session for my Dandelion Radio show, which you can hear streaming from tomorrow at http://www.dandelionradio.com/, with repeat streamings throughout August. The session features a full band version of 'Darth', from the album, a track which ably showcases their gauche yet melodic charms, plus intimately recorded acoustic renditions of two other tracks.

Again, the rather rudimentary conditions in which these acoustic versions were recorded are something the band responds to brilliantly, responding to my request for the session tracks by, er, tomorrow with an 'ok, we'll do them tonight', and using the opportunity to reveal further depths to their astonishing material. One of them, 'So Long Sucker' you may have heard in demo form on my show a few months back. The session version lends it an incredible sparseness that finds me listening to the original demo, and the version on the album, with fresh ears.

So many other perfectly good bands would have told me they couldn't get something together that quickly and either asked for a postponement or told me to shove it up my arse. I suspect it's not just their politeness that stopped Emily & The Faves from taking this course. Rather, as with the aforementioned gig, they rose to the challenge as only the most skilled and durable bands do.

But then Emily & The Faves are a highly skilled, innovative and, hopefully, durable band, as you'll find out for yourself when you hear the session. Then I'd recommend you do yourself a considerable favour and add a copy of their album to your collection.

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/emily-the-faves/id445662261