The Features. Apparently, they're a band!

And a really good one too!

I found them, of all places, at Barnes & Noble. Don’t give up yet, stay with me. Ok, yes, while wandering the isles at B&N, a song (I couldn’t tell you which one it was) caught my attention. The longer I browsed, the more my attention was diverted to the music coming from the speakers until the only reason I was still hanging around and going through the motions of picking up and leafing through books was so that I could listen some more.  This is saying a lot because my idea of a good time sometimes is simply wandering the isles shopping for books with a cup of coffee in hand (don’t judge me!). By the time Wooden Heart came on (I would later learn that was the title) I wanted the CD.

So there I was in the music department asking the guy at the counter what it was they were currently playing. Embarrassingly, it went like this:

Me: What are you playing right now?
Him: (pointing to display on the counter) The Features
Me: Thanks, but what's the name of the band?
Him: (a bemused smile on his face, and patiently and not meanly pulling a CD from the display and handing it to me) The Features. It's the name of the band.
Me: (Internal) Duh.
Me: (Out loud) Ah, yes. I see. Now...

Well, I didn’t buy the CD then… because I second guess my judgment in just about everything. I wanted to go home and do a little more research. I looked up the band’s website,  then listened to the 30 second snippets on iTunes and Amazon, and watched a couple of videos before I decided that yes, I wasn’t mistaken at B&N, they really were good. They were really, really good. I bought Some Kind of Salvation (their most current album) at that point and proceeded to listen to it non-stop for the next couple of weeks.

Since then (and it’s only been about a month) I’ve gotten Exhibit A, their first album which was recorded while with Universal Records, which they’re no longer with, and two EP’s The Beginning and Contrast which were recorded between labels if I’m not mistaken. All are as good as Some Kind of Salvation. They’ve been touring, opening for Kings of Leon lately but they’ll be playing The Troubadour on November 19^th, and I for one, am very excited to go!


The Features "Whatever Gets You By/Drawing Board" from Lake Fever Sessions on Vimeo.


 (This was originally posted on my previous blog, from which I've since moved, on Nov. 7th 2009)