they’ve put their vocal and guitar-playing skills together to make one sweet little album under the name Whitehorse. a whopping eight bucks will get it for you on itunes, and if you have anything resembling a cowboy or a songbird in ya, i highly recommend you make that move.

the eight duet-driven tracks have just the right balance of country grit and bluegrass bittersweetness to keep your feet thumping and your heart yearning. in my opinion, they more than give She & Him a run for their money. and as an added bonus, keep your ears out for a noteworthy Bruce Springsteen cover near the end of the record.

while you and your pocketbook are mulling that over, check out this acoustic performance of their single, “Emerald Isle,” courtesy of CBC Radio 2:

instant art!

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Itay Ohaly’s acrylic Color Rings

Monika Chiang’s Athena Gold Cuff Platform Sandal

i got nothing but love for these boys. nothing but love.

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but to point a finger at the whirlwind of gingerbread lattes and carol refrains that left me dazed amidst scatterings of discarded wrapping paper and pine tree needles, trying desperately to catch up to the words “new year,” is to single out a half truth. i suspect that my radio silence has less to do with seasonal madness than it does with perennial over-achieving. or over-committing. or any other over estimation of how much time and energy I conceivably have to offer the world (and its increasingly demanding doppelganger, the cyber world).

in short, life is crazy. to qualify that comment with “these days” suggests an eventual return to some semblance of sanity. or at least a potential visit by its distant cousins, balance and peace. and if there’s anything i can be sure of these days, it’s that that particular eventuality is not in my immediate future.

this reality has lead me to a chain of frenetically interlocking questions about life that I won’t bother hanging around your neck right now. but if i wanted to boil it all down (and i do), the base element in question is value. and where value is in jeopardy, so, too, is inspiration. more and more i question the value of spreading ourselves so thin, of plugging in to so many worlds and concurrent brain waves, of striving to be someone to everyone. i struggle with how, in this age of gluttonous access, i seem to be so bereft of exalted thoughts and moments, however small. it makes me wonder if we are really built to give so much of ourselves away. or take so much that is not ourselves in.

the irony of sharing this via a blog post is not lost on me. but i thought that by articulating these thoughts, i might kick start a metaphorical labor of sorts. purge the inspirational doldrums and find my way back to hearting on the world around me again.

it’s a little too early to tell, but i think we may have made just enough progress for me to believe that this is true:

don’t worry, all you old farts out there. we have room for your dreaming, too.

from left: ceramic marimekko and classic cast-iron Japanese

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