There are about half a dozen other things I should be writing about in order to preserve one of the key elements of journalism: timeliness – however, I’ve become mildly obsessed with Dan Bejar since last year, so I can’t keep myself from jumping all over this.

Hello, Blue Roses is the pairing of Dan Bejar (Destroyer, New Pornographers, Swan Lake) and Sydney Vermont who are “romantically entwined,” according to the press release – which also mentions ’80s AOR, femme folk from the ’60s and ’70s and Kate Bush, some of which is accurate, some of which is not. They’re releasing a self-titled disc on January 22nd. “Shadow Falls” is the first single.

Hello, Blue Roses: “Shadow Falls” (download)

Bejar is still distinctly Bejar, but Vermont grounds him a bit. If you’ve found Destroyer a little overwhelming but loved the Bejar-penned New Pornographers pieces, you’ll no doubt enjoy this, too. Still, the great thing about Bejar is that he’s so immediately distinct, his stamp is on this enough to keep his devotees. There is a light femme-folk influence, mostly in Vermont’s voice – particularly in the self-titled track available on their MySpace profile.

You can read an interview with them on Pitchfork here.

Hello, Blue Roses on MySpace