I've made no secret of my admiration for the band Amandine. My curiousity was piqued back in March when the band signed with UK-based label FatCat Records back in March and I've been keeping an eye on them ever since. Lucky for me, my intuition has paid off because their debut album "This is where our hearts collide" is a fine piece of work. It's the perfect album to usher in the autumn season - subdued and downtrodden, but still full of hope and beauty. The sound is very much country-influenced, but it's not by the books. They definitely take cues from folks like Will Oldham and Songs: Ohia, but Amandine doesn't seem nearly as inconsistent. All of their material is quite strong, which is why I let the band themselves pick a track for posting today. "Blood & marrow," they say is, "just a simple and soulful song with kind of a rough edge to it. One of [our] personal favourites off the album. The best part of the song, and I think we all agree on this, is when the drums and the bass kick in in the beginning of the second verse. Gives me goosebumps every time, especially when we do it live." Listen for yourself and I think you'll agree.