My initial draft of this post had references to how White Whale appeared to come up from nowhere. But then I hit up Brooklyn Vegan to find out that I am the last blogger to mention them. That’s what I get for sleeping on the job, kids. Still, I feel it’s my duty to mention this excellent song. Fans of Okkervil River, the Arcade Fire and even Big Star will most likely be as pleased as I was.

MP3: White Whale - The Admiral
There’s a delicious bit of irony in this song that eluded me the first dozen times I listened to it. Amid a marching tune that wouldn’t have been too far out of place amid late 19th century British songs (rocked out a bit, naturally), they make it a point to ask the question, “Who throws parties like these any more? Did they not go out of fasion before the war?” The irony, of course, is that who writes songs like these any more? If not for the eerie similarity certain parts have to Arcade Fire songs–check the soaring ‘oh ohs’–and a musical approach that’s not too far removed from Okkervil River, I’d say that they’re about as far removed from modern musical standards as whatever party they were attending. But since right now our highest peak of musical entertainment is American Idol, I’d say that’s probably a good thing.

White Whale on Myspace (stream three other songs there)

White Whale’s debut album comes out on Merge July 25th

A quick update on Page France: Whitney and Michael’s side project, The Broadway Hush, will be releasing two 7″s on Velvet Blue Music in the next few months. No word yet on the Anathallo split, but I’ll let you know as soon as I find out.