Hey There Stranger

Back in 2008 we went to our first Indietracks festival. Whilst everything we experienced that weekend made a solid and lasting mark, there was one band who I discovered that weekend who have stayed at the top of my list since. A Classic Education even featured as our Band of the Week on the old blog (a section which lasted about two weeks in reality). At the time I was blown away by the Canadian-cum-Italian four piece who were making music akin to Arcade Fire, The Decemberists and Modest Mouse. Their debut EP, First EP, became a regular fixture in my record bag, and thus if you’ve been to any PYT nights then there is a good chance you will have heard a track by the band.

This week sees the release of A Classic Education’s new EP, Hey There Stranger. The band have grown to six members now, and are still based mainly in Bologna, which has made seeing them live recently a little difficult. I tried to get the band over to play for PYT at In The City in October, but unfortunately this hasn’t come to fruition. Plans are afoot to try and get them over to play in early 2011 though. I love the feel of the guitars in their music; they are somewhere between sun-drenched and a faded photograph which has been in the light too long. I don’t see why a lot of other bands who try to achieve this sound have got so much credit, yet ACE are still pretty unknown in the UK. Here is a band producing music that I could quite easily listen to all day long, but then again I do love orchestral pop music.

Here’s a free download of Gone To Sea from the new EP, and a video of A Classic Education’s cover of Gilbert Bécaud’s Toi.

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