Good Feeling Music
You may have heard of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele, a new pop musician from Oxford, Mississippi. If not, you'll be hearing a lot from him in the coming year.
Dent's unique vocal style - part crooner, part falsetto, and 101 percent showman - reflects the influence of some of his favourite singers (Prince, Serge Gainsbourg, and Lee Hazlewood to name a few). His love of various song styles results in a unique combination of ukulele, drums, pedal steel, violin, horns and bass. One second his songs hint at Brazilian Tropicalia, the next a '50s barbershop quartet or early 20th century country swing.
By integrating his favourite pop music from around the world and writing about what is in front of him (his town, his friends, and pretty girls), Dent takes the "think global, buy local" motto to heart. He may just be one of the 21st century's first sustainable pop singers.
Animal Collective first heard Dent May when they were recording their new album in Oxford Mississippi in early 2008 and quickly signed him to their Paw Tracks imprint. Now we present his incredibly impressive debut full length, The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele, recorded with Rusty Santos (Panda Bear, Animal Collective, White Magic et al) in May's home, a double-wide trailer in Taylor, Mississippi (population: 300).
Dent May grew up singing in local church groups, acting in school plays, and performing at nursing home gigs with a recorder choir. In high school, he wrote synthy power-pop with his band The Rockwells while recording erotically charged novelty tracks with friends on the side. After three unsuccessful semesters at NYU's film school, May moved to North Mississippi where he helped found the Cats Purring arts collective and formed a country-rock band called Cowboy Maloney's Electric City.
In late 2007 he began performing as Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele and released a digital E.P. of cheeky lo-fi tunes, A Brush With Velvet. The title is a reference to The Partridge Family, episodes of which May obsessively collected and organised on VHS tapes as a teen. Despite Dent's new solo adventure, he still continues to perform with Cowboy Maloney's Electric City, and recently began recording dance music under the moniker Dent Sweat.
With excitement reaching a fever pitch a new term has been coined: Dent May-nia. Catch it now, and throughout 2009 when Dent will be touring the world including SXSW.
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