We Like It Free

One of the things the mp3 blog community has been buzzing about of late (and with good reason, for once) is the release and subsequent free offering of The Impossible Shapes' Tum. Created in two weeks, Tum is the vinyl only "younger sister" to the contemporarily released Shapes album Horus.

Despite the fact that Tum is more than half-comprised of seemingly underdeveloped instrumentals, Secretly Canadian deserves all available praise for offering up this free download by a band as currently vital as The Impossible Shapes, which explains why I'm throwing my hat into the ring and writing about this already much-blogged event. Thank you for your generosity, Secretly Canadian; thanks, thanks and more thanks!

Hopefully I don't come off as an ungrateful scrooge by saying that of Tum's 17 songs only "Florida Silver Springs" and "Late Summer Sky" come close to reaching previous Impossible Shapes highs such as "What About The Other Side" and "You Are Not The Target" (from 2003's We Like It Wild) or "Always The Way" and "The Line So Flexible" (from Bless The Headless, also released in 2003). The fact is Tum is an album of quieter, simpler pleasures than either We Like It Wild or Bless The Headless, though it still reveals a band that seems genuinely excited (and un-cynical) about making music.

Here are my three favorite songs from Tum, including one instrumental that truly does work:

The Impossible Shapes - "Florida Silver Springs"

The Impossible Shapes - "Hornbeam"

The Impossible Shapes - "Late Summer Sky"

Tum is still available for download in its entirety from Secretly Canadian, but only until March 5. The Impossible Shapes' website has lots of other information and mp3s to download, not to mention a great design.