Bodies Of Water’s third album Twist Again is a bit darker and more insular than the L.A. group’s past “indie-gospel,” or whatever you want to call it, offerings. There’s still plenty of the sun and breezy ’60s pop gold, and 2008′s A Certain Feeling was definitely duskier than what came before it, but hearing the married core of David and Meredith Metcalf harmonizing without past members Kyle Gladden and Jessica Conklin, brings a more personal, private vibe to the recordings (even though they’re backed by folks handling drums, additional bass, violin, viola, and plenty of horns). You got a sense the shift via those Twist Again tracks the band leaked last year (“Triplets,” “Rise Up, Careful,” “Ever With Us“) and even their cover of the Magnetic Fields’ “I Don’t Believe In The Sun.” The feeling continues with mellow, quietly lush album standout “Open Rhythms.”

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Ever the hard workers, L.A.’s Bodies Of Water have offered up a pretty, spare take on 69 Love Songs staple “I Don’t Believe In The Sun.” To help you get your week started on a cheery note. It reminds me of early Magnetic Fields — an unknown acoustic outtake from Distant Plastic Trees or The Wayward Bus.

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Los Angeles indie-gospel/Music Go Music makers Bodies Of Water are at work on a followup to 2008′s A Certain Feeling. They aren’t done yet, but frontwoman Meredith Metcalf sent GvsB a few samples with a note: “[I]nstead of waiting till the whole record is done, we thought it’d be fun to record little groups of 3 or 4 songs at a time so people can listen as we finished them.” Here are a couple with differing speeds/approaches.

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When we posted about L.A. prog-gospel crew Bodies Of Water’s “Under The Pines,” we mentioned that at least in name, the song reminded some of us (me) of old-time Siltbreezers the Strapping Fieldhands’ In The Pineys EP. The video, written and created by Bodies David & Meredith Metcalf and directed by Andy Bruntel, finds David looking like a fieldhand, albeit not so strapping. Story wise, it’s good to see Meredith putting her past acting skills to use. But dog (and sweetmeat) lovers might want to avert their eyes.

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Los Angeles indie-gospel act Bodies Of Water’s sophomore album A Certain Feeling is out next week. We’ve already heard its “Under The Pines,” and when the quartet stopped by Daytrotter they offered up more: “Even In A Cave” and Certain‘s title track (along with two familiar songs from last year’s self-released debut Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink). You can hear the aforementioned and read hardworking Bodies member David Metcalf’s song notes at Daytrotter. Because the album release date’s so close, we thought we’d also post another new one to celebrate the occasion.

Bodies Of Water – “Gold, Tan, Peach, And Grey” (MP3)

A Certain Feeling is out 7/22 via Secretly Canadian.

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Back in the day, Siltbreeze released Philly crew Strapping Fieldhands awesome In The Pineys EP. The new track from Bodies Of Water places the listener in the pines, too, which immediately conjured the older platter, though BoW bring a West coast prog-gospel vibe to the picnic. Which is familiar, yes, because that’s what the hard working quartet did so well on the self-released Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink, but there are differences: The sound’s denser, a bit darker and heavier, and they allow more space between the vocal harmonies for the backing sounds to really sink into your cranium. “Under The Pines” is all we’ve heard from the forthcoming sophomore album/Secretly Canadian debut A Certain Feeling, and it has us very excited for what’s still to come.

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No more pussyfooting — it’s SXSW time. The day parties are starting like now. Since those of you that are Austin bound will spend your daylight hours Thursday-Saturday at Volume for the Stereogum/Paste party (right?), today’s the best day to wander around the rest of the too-many spots to load up on free music, food, and intoxicants. We want to help you make the most of it, so here are a couple of parties today well worth your while. (Photo via Chromewaves.)

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Bodies Of Water’s spiraling, gospel-tinged gold sounds have been in heavy rotation around here for a few months. From “It Is Familiar” and “These Are the Eyes” (posted here), through the summery Take-Away versions of “I Heard It Sound” and “I Guess I’ll Forget the Sound, I Guess, I Guess” (there), and now “Doves Circled The Sky” (after our conversations), we’ve managed to pack just about a half of the Los Angeles quartet’s superbly orchestral, made-for-the-small-town-stage Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink onto the site. That’s not counting their killer cover of R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts.” You get the idea: We dig.

So when I approached band member David Metcalf about his employment status, I was happy — in a bittersweet way — to find out out that 3/4 of the band hold day jobs they’re willing to talk to us about: Metcalf does design and illustration, Kyle Gladden designs for a clothing company, and Jessica Conklin teaches. Learn a bit about sassy sweatpants, weekly field trips, and Ziggy, the graphic designing singer of a rap metal band after the jump.

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Our favorite shiny happy R.E.M.-covering indie-gospel quartet Bodies Of Water recorded a Take-Away show in their Los Angeles hometown at the end of July. The video documentation’s now available for two gems from Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink, one in China Town, the other on Olvera Street, both odes to joy. Love the outfits, too.

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