sorry for the delay. there are no good excuses other than laziness and neglect, coupled with a new job and uninspired writing. i have risen from my slumber to mention a nice little band out of sweden called days. they’ve just released a wonderful new record on shelflife , who have really taken the ball and run with it with exquisitely crafted releases that present a cd and 7″ record in a neat cardboard book. the new Days release, entitled downhill, marks the third entry in this limited format and i hope they keep rolling these things out. i picked up the very first release in the series by a wonderful duo from italy called warm morning, and this new release is even better. reading up on Days, it seems they’ve made many many songs over the years and when it came time to release some of them (7 for this release), it took ages (many days) to make the selections. not one minute is wasted on any of the songs presented here, especially on the title track, which you can listen to via their myspace page. it’s too bad that every time i’ll want to listen to this album i’ll have to take the sleeve out of the frame i’ve put in it, which hangs above my door. according to shelflife’s official site, each release will be part of an exhibit that will be nowhere near where i live. i wish every label would take the time to present a record that at least tries to match the beauty of the music.