In my time blogging about things I love, well music primarily, I get an increasing amount of new bands sending me their music looking for a review. I still feel flattered and somewhat overwhelmed. To be honest a lot of it is not very good or sometimes more simply, not my taste in music. However it is a real delight when I receive some a recommendation that turns out to be good.

If you haven't heard of Christmas Fuller Project let me introduce them to you. They hail from northwest Arkansas and they are comprised of 4 members (sorry, 5, they just added a new member). They have just released their debut album "The Philosophy of Time Travel" and it could be seen as some sort of a concept album. It is nice to see such ambition from a young band and on the whole it mostly pays off. For some sort of reference point I think they sound like a cross between Eels and Death Cab For Cutie. They combine delicious melodies with sweeping guitar lines and occasionally hushed vocals. Now the concept is loosely based around a trilogy of songs about 19th century swimmer Captain Matthew Webb and a time traveler. In a broader context, to quote the band "Time Travel is a metaphor for hope, regret, longing, reminiscing, learning from mistakes, and any other experience that finite beings inevitably face as they try to figure out their place in eternity." It is quite ambitious but thankfully it largely succeeds. Particular stand out tracks for me are "1875", "Meet Me in Montauk", "Prelude" and "Ghosts Are For Graveyards".
MP3: Meet Me in Montauk
You can find out more and listen to some tracks at their MySpace.
You can purchase "The Philosophy of Time Travel" from CD Baby.