The Eastern Sea The Match

Austin-based quartet The Eastern Sea have managed to weave an absolutely beautiful song in "The Match," off their album Plague. Today, we're bringing you a free download!

Half of this is owing to the amazing lead vocals of singer Matt Hines, who started the band roughly five years ago in his bedroom. If you were to ask me, I'd say that there's an undeniable similarity between his style and that of Ben Gibbard (The Postal Service, Death Cab For Cutie).

Most of you familiar with my writing style will be aware that I'm not one to use big words and ramble on about the meaning behind a song. But, I thought I'd share the band's own press description of "The Match":

The music on Plague boasts a musical play in 4 different parts with each song changing the scene. "The Match" is a powerful and percussion driven song featuring elements of setting that fill most of its lyrical space (shoes in a pile by the door, condensation on the red plastic cups, planes lifting off at the nearby airport) but it's moments of portraiture that drives the song.

The idle waste of matches, paired with the thrill of almost getting burnt, serve as a snapshot of the person once loved, a young woman whose curiosity and hunger for attention could only be satiated by fits of self-destruction. And it's not until the final coda of the song that the unflattering lens turns to singer Matt Hines, revealing his own masochism with an inability to answer the ultimate question of "is it you or is it me?"

You can find out more about the band on their website.