Usually I just post up The Tryout over to the left but the problem with that is that when I change to a new group, the past week's Tryout disappears forever. So to save the new music for posterity, I'm bringing back the Tryout post. I know, I know, you're welcome.

Anyway, this week's Tryout is the unsigned band Walk the Moon and their single "Anna Sun". Their bio from their MySpace page is:

Walk the Moon are from Ohio. Their moms are cute and batty and their dads are big and strong. While singing a capella in college, listening to a lot of Talking Heads, and chasing down degrees in Music Theory, Walk the Moon formed out of a love for creative pop songs and exuberant live performances and safari animals. In 2008 Walk the Moon’s debut EP “The Anthem” stirred up attention from the likes of CityBeat Magazine and FOX News and even took them to London, UK; there they played a week of shows at the London City Showcase as the only band from North America to be selected by Sonicbids for the spot. Since then, led by singer/synth-player Nicholas Petricca, Walk has continued to make noise around the US, named by New York City’s historic Arlene’s Grocery one of their “Best Bands of 2009” and by promoters at NYC's Highline Ballroom "one of the best young bands [they] have seen in a long time".

I'm definitely a fan of the song but I do think that the band would have been best served (in terms of radio play) by paring it down to a tighter three minutes. Not that the song feels too long but I always feel like it's better to leave people wanting more when it comes to pop songs and most of them should venture past the four minute mark. Still, regardless of that perceived pecadillo, I could see this song getting heavy rotation for the rest of the month and making the SoulHonky January SoulMix.

To mix things up from the posted video to the left, here's an amazing acoustic version of "Anna Sun" that immediately makes me reconsider my "no longer than 4 minutes" comment above. (Although I do maintain that if they released a version that ended at the 3:04 mark, it would become a pop radio staple.)

Oh, and to save one more for posterity, the final Tryout of 2010 was The Head and the Heart.