Soy Un Caballo at Baeble's Guest Apartment

We weren't prepared to find ourselves so incredibly charmed when first we invited Belgium duo Soy Un Caballo by the Baeble Guest Apartment. We knew very little of this Belgium couple, save those tunes offered on their MySpace, and a few fun facts involving past collaborations with the likes of Conor Oberst, Tunng, and Will Oldham. Of course musicians of this mark don't share their craft with just anyone... which says a lot about this band, even if you, like us, are new to Soy Un Caballo.

But pleasant revelations are part of the reason we do this, and for our money, there has been no better discovery this summer than the merrymaking couple of Aurlie Muller and Thomas Van Cottom. Arriving with nothing more than their vibraphone - a vibraphone that was very much packed for the trans Atlantic flight they just stepped off of - the duo decided to give Baeble's busted, string-less, and soul-less (for that matter) acoustic guitar some much needed musical life, tuning it up, and strumming through the kind of light, crisp melodies that struck our ears like the sweetest of summertime lullabies.

Pleasant pop songs of this nature tap in to an endless vat of intrigue and innocence, and as the two churned through "Robin", we in the room found our minds very much adrift in a sea of billowy goodness; that is until Thomas broke down the barrier separating the performers and the audience, enlisting our production crew for a little help on the song's outro. It wouldn't be the only thing was demanded of us throughout the session. On "La Raison Du Plus Fort", the band required our imagination, giving a Christmas tune of theirs' the June treatment, complete with a dedication to one Jude Law.

All and all, it was an utterly charming encounter we found ourselves in. But I'm guessing that's fairly common for anyone happening upon Soy Un Caballo. - David Pitz

Take a Belgian couple who write and perform songs of exquisite fragility, record them in Brussels with an amazing line up of musicians such as Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (Will Oldham), members of Raymondo, Jesse Vernon (Morning Star), Kate Stables (This is the Kit), and producers Sean O'Hagan (The High Llamas) and Charlie Francis (R.E.M., The High Llamas, Turin Brakes producer), and you have the duo Soy Un Caballo (Spanish for I am a horse).