Arkansas:

Memphis Pencils

CITY: Arkansas
SONG TO DOWNLOAD:

CITY: Fayetteville
SONGS THAT GOT US: "Grin Mountain," "Un Dandy Dia"
MYSPACE ADDRESS: myspace.com/memphispencils
RECORD LABEL: Unsigned

WHY THEM? There’s a bevy of badass noise-rock going down in Fayetteville, but this quintet caught us off guard by shifting the other way into backwoods chamber pop. Picking up the rolling acoustics and campfire drums that Grizzly Bear ditched a few years ago, Martin Bemberg and his crew have dropped one EP (Crayon Jewels) and a dusty trail of shows full of dreamy tunes and dovetailing vocals. A little candlelit acid prog, a little wheezy squeeze box, and some pecking at the ol’ glockenspiel dress up the fringes, but the key is deep-thinking songwriting. Memphis Pencils rock bedrooms and basements, but the architecture in their music is all secret passages and high ceilings.

BONUS BIT! It pains our nostalgic heart to hear this, but the Pencils cut up animal-facts cards from the Wildlife Treasury while assembling the handmade art on their last record.