Each Friday I pick a song–new, old, borrowed, blue–that’s been on my mind and in my ears, and write a short post about it.

This is “Half Crazy” by The Barr Brothers:

The Barr Brothers launched their new album, Sleeping Operator, in the UK on Monday night with a live set at Rough Trade East in London. You had to buy the album to get a wristband for the show, and though I suppose I could’ve just, uh, “browsed” for 45 minutes, it seemed churlish, so I bought the album.

The Barr Brothers aren’t making music that is astoundingly original. What they are doing, though, is exploring a particular idiom thoughtfully and interestingly. Here, for instance, they explore a pretty straightforward blues trope, enlivening not only with harp (and don’t let that harp sucker you into thinking we’re crossing into Joanna Newsom territory) but with some intricate percussion/handclapping rhythmic work. The album itself plays around with a variety of influences, picking them up, playing around with them, and setting them back down intact. It’s not faint praise; there’s a real joy, especially live, in listening to a band taking familiar things and asking you to listen to them in fresh and new ways.