New Music Monday - 'A Dead Man's Song" by Roger Lion

Today's #NMM pick is one of the most offbeat collaborations I've heard in my nearly 8 years writing for this blog. I received a preview copy of Roger Lion's eponymous debut and was immediately taken in by this idiosyncratic work. It has elements of folk and hip-hop with glimmers of punk and electronica. Reading the band's bio on the Team Love website doesn't help, as it's a stream of consciousness recollection of a music industry veteran referred to only by his initials and his third-person retelling of a conversation he had with another pseudonymous musician. I stumbled upon their Facebook page and realized what the score was.

Roger Lion is a collaboration between Joe Pernice and producer and multi-instrumentalist Josh Karp, better known by his stage name Budo. The former is known for his work in The Pernice Brothers and the Scud Mountain Boys, while the latter is known for his work producing Macklemore's debut album and his collaboration with Grieves. My first impression of the album is that it sounds like Sam Beam (of Iron & Wine) performing unreleased Pink Floyd material with Portishead producing.

The album comes out September 18. No word on tour dates yet.

Courtesy of the band