Freelance Whales

Freelance Whales hail from Queens, where they maintain a home studio filled with unusual instruments of every sort. Each song draws from a different orchestral palette, but all combine elements of kinder-core with an ear for smart, melodic chamber-pop, like children’s music made for young adults. A 2010 debut album, Weathervanes, isn’t a full-fledged masterpiece—the bandmates first met up in late 2008, and have yet to fully come into their own as songwriters—but it’s filled with aching melodies, the beseeching voice of frontman Judah Dadone, and a whole lot of glockenspiel. Hopefully it’s a taste of more impressive things to come, as the band plans to release a sophomore follow-up sometime in 2012.

Updated 05/21/2012