Sage Francis - Li(f)e

End of year lists bring forth bands that you may have never heard of before. Sage Francis seems to be my biggest discovery of the list season. When I saw pictures of Sage Francis, I thought he was some folk singer in the the vein of Iron and Wine or Bon Iver. Instead, Sage Francis combines hip-hop with folk to create a very intriguing release. Lyrics are at the forefront of this release, especially in "The Best Of Times", a song that is especially easy to relate to with its extremely personal statements of his life. The instrumentals are solemn and fit perfectly with the mood of the songs. Sage Francis has crossed genres extremely successfully, and with a few more listens this album may be at the forefront of my list. Check Sage Francis out on Myspace here.