Dear Ari Hest,

I think I have fallen in love with your new song "Bird Never Flies" from your most recent album, The Break-In. I heard it in a sampler CD in the 5th Anniversary issue of Paste, a cool little magazine which features awesome music, nifty movies, and fun artifacts of our present culture. It's really a publications gem.

Anyway, either last issue or the issue before, I saw an add for your 2006 project, The Green Room Sessions. I was intrigued 1) by your name and 2) by the cover, which features you, a fairly good looking man playing a guitar and sitting on a chair near a window. I was intrigued, but I'll admit I did nothing about it.

So, then I purchased the most recent issue of Paste. I put the sampler CD straight into my car's CD playing and listened. Eventually I was distracted by a deep, commanding voice. It was your song (a live recording from the Paste party back in February).

It starts with moving, driving acoustic guitar. The lower notes drive the pulse of the song, the higher notes plinking away, creating an interesting syncopation with the bass notes. Then your booming voice comes in. There's something familiar about it, but I can't quite label it. There's something comforting about it, the vibrations of it, the way your deep voice rolls and vibrates over the verses. There's something phenomenally alluring about the way your voice is so present and clear one second, but gets raspy on higher notes.

And talk about catchy-as-hell love song: "Darling, don't cry/ don't you know/ I won't give you up/ this bird never flies" and then the heartstrings-pulling repetition of the line "I won't give you up" toward the end.

Even though I haven't heard the studio recording of this song, I think I like it. The guitar, the voice, the lyrics, the emotion it evokes. It's one song definitely worth a listen.

I may have to buy the whole album. Score for the Adult Alternative Artists!

Love,
Christina