Whistle Jacket “Compliment” (MP3)
With about eight different incarnations of the band, Whistle Jacket’s biography reads like the Book of Chronicles. Started by Michael Leyden in 2002, the band has been playing what one UCLA college radio DJ described “as near genre-exempt” music. This description is a testament to the range of song stylings that have appeared in the band’s 4 full-length albums and 1 EP. Nevertheless, despite this range, the band repeatedly draws from rock n’roll, pop, folk, and noise.
Hello Heart is Whistle Jacket’s 2010 release. Playing with Michael on this release is longtime member Matt Jugenheimer (who also recorded the album) as well as Spenser Gralla and Noah Bond, both of whom also play in Boston’s Doomstar. Other local musicians contributed on vocals, horns, violin, and piano. Two of note, Erin Hasley and Judy Feldman, have made contributions on the last 3 Whistle Jacket records. Hello Heart features 13 songs that sonically strive to sound big while at the same maintaining an intimacy and the band’s usual quirkiness.
Whistle Jacket have been primarily playing in the Boston and Northampton area, though the band has toured both the Midwest and the South. A 2010 tour is in the works.
Other releases of Whistle Jacket include Rainy Day Sunshine, So Let Me Know, Start Stop Skip & Jump, and Whistle Jacket Wishes You a Happy Holiday. Additionally, the band contributed a song to the Boston compilation release, These are Centre St. Tracks and to Holiday Heart, a benefit album for hospice. In 2010, Michael Leyden also released an album of his home recordings entitled Happy Home Recordings, Volume 1.
