If you were in Seattle Thursday night, we hope you attended The Heineken “City Arts Fest” and caught the set by one of our favorites, The Long Winters.  The City Arts Fest continues through Saturday–you can check out the schedule HERE (Ryan Adams, Built to Spill, Shabazz Palaces tonight; The Hold Steady, Mudhoney, Shelby Lynne on Saturday).

Despite the uber-cheezy, local-talk-show surroundings in the video below, check out band leader, John Roderick (one of America’s best songwriters and hilarious funnyman) and one of the band’s other original members, Sean Nelson (former singer for Harvey Danger).  They perform an acoustic version of the new (anti-bullying?) song, New Girl.  It’s the usual great songwriting and harmonies we’ve come to expect from The Long Winters (never a more appropriate name for a Seattle band).  If you have time after the duet, there’s some humorous repartee with the hostess.

And for heavensake, go buy some music from The Long Winters HERE.  Our favorite album is the all-time great “When I Pretend to Fall.”  And by far our favorite song by the band is The Commander Thinks Aloud off the band’s “Ultimatum EP” and featured on the still-rewarding Future Soundtrack of America benefit album.  Check out the song below:

The Long Winters–The Commander Thinks Aloud

[audio:https://www.thelefortreport.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/11-The-Commander-Thinks-Aloud.mp3|titles=11 The Commander Thinks Aloud]

And for you visual learners out there, here’s an older video of the band performing the song live:

But for a great overall feel for the band, you can’t do better than their concert DVD, Live at the Shoebox, a preview of which you can check out below and purchase at their website.

The Long Winters Live at the Showbox DVD Preview from Adam Pranica on Vimeo.