One of the things about being excited by music that isn't terribly well known (but still well known enough to make its way into the shops) is that while paying $35 for an import or difficult-to-find disc is not unusual, it's just as frequently possible to pick up a potential gem for something more in the vicinity of $5, which happens to be exactly what I paid for both Long Shot Novena and, a couple of days later, this disc, Azure Ray's Hold on Love (to be honest, I probably wouldn't have paid any more for either of them).
As it happens, while I wouldn't quite go so far as to call Hold on Love a gem, it's a more than pleasant listen: hushed, sombre, downbeat, and oh so pretty (for the most part, it's just two girls sing-murmuring to the accompaniment of piano, acoustic guitar and muted programmed tones), Azure Ray takes some of its cues from contemporary gothic-inflected folksters like Will Oldham, and some from indie-pop of the precious/wistful stripe, and comes up with something sweet and occasionally haunting. Favourite songs at the moment are "We Are Mice" and "Look To Me"; the Saint Etienne-esque "If You Fall", while unrepresentative of the album's overall mood, is also very nice.
