The Burgundy Demos

If you haven’t listened to Legendary Creatures yet, you need to. I had the pleasure of both listening to and playing with them this past Saturday during the Metrotimes Blowout at Kellys. I also now have the pleasure of checking out their CD, The Burgundy Demos, which I was given at the show. Consisting of Sarah Vaughn, Matt Luke, Jesse Ramsey, Andrew Davis, and Nathan Burgundy IV, Legendary Creatures play a sort of trippy, electric-folk music complete with mandolin and incredible vocal melodies/harmonies. Not only do they play good tunes, but they are all-around lovely people.

The Burgundy Demos (available as a physical CD or as a digital download on their Bandcamp page) can take you from lovely harmonies and up-beat chord progressions to kind of spooky (but in a pretty way). Much like the cover, the listening experience is kind of like a leisurely stroll through a fairytale forest, complete with wrong turns and gnomes. For example, during the opening track “Guess I’m Not Good Enough,” there is a clear break from the up-beat feel of the music to a gloomier, ethereal mood more reflective of the lyrics. The entire album has subtle twists and turns that always seem to go opposite of where I thought they would.

The entire disc just sounds cool. Everything is wrapped in a warm reverb giving it a moody, dream-like quality that I really dig. The interplay between the mandolin and keyboards is as delicate as the vocal harmonies. All this comes to a grand conclusion with “We Are The Ones,” which also happens to be my favorite track. The driving rhythm of the drums and bass combine with the slower feel of the guitar and vocals in a real cool way.

I should have prefaced at the beginning, that I’m not much of a writer. Despite this being an inadequate write-up which borders on the non-sensible, I can say with certainty is that this is an infectious and charming CD which will not be leaving my player for some time. From what Matt was telling me, they are currently working on additional recordings and finishing overdubs. Hopefully I can get my hands on them as soon.
Enough of my yapping.

Download The Burgundy Demos here: legendarycreatures.bandcamp.com

You can also catch Legendary Creatures April 13 at The Loving Touch in Ferndale for Jeff Milo’s Birthday Bash with The Satin Peaches and Electric Fire Babies.