Kandle OsborneWhen I last wrote up Timber Timbre back in March, shortly before the release of their latest Creep On Creepin’ On, I commented on how unlikely it seemed that the Toronto trio’s murky goth-blues should make them stars (relatively speaking), but how that seemed to be exactly what was going to happen. And indeed, it’s been a good 2011 for them, to say the least. The decidedly positive critical response and popular demand kept the band on the road through all of North America and Europe through the Spring and Summer, and with their placement on the Polaris Music Prize shortlist, they’ve announced a Fall tour that will keep them living in a van through the rest of the year, covering locales from Ontario through to the Maritimes with a handful of European dates for good measure.

They’ll get a chance to sleep in their own beds and do some laundry, though, as the itinerary now includes their first hometown date since the Trinty-St. Paul’s album release show way back in April – and it’s coming at the decidedly fancy digs of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on November 26. Tickets for that show are $25 in advance and despite it being a seated venue, will be general admission; they’re on sale today at 10AM. And the merch table at this and other shows will have a little something special in the form of vinyl reissues of the first two independently-released Timber Timbre records – Cedar Shakes and Medicinals – dating from when the band was a pseudonym for Taylor Kirk solo.

The band have also released a new, appropriately creepy animated video from Creep On Creepin’ On and over at BlogTO, violinist Mika Posen talks about the Polaris nomination.

MP3: Timber Timbre – “Black Water”
Video: Timber Timbre – “Too Old To Die Young”

Tasseomancy have released another video from their just-released record Ulalalme, which was co-produced by Taylor Kirk. They’re playing The Great Hall on October 20 and will support Austra at The Phoenix on December 1.

Video: Tasseomancy – “Soft Feet”

Also with a new video from a Polaris-shortlisted record is Destroyer, from Kaputt.

Video: Destroyer – “Savage Night At The Opera”

Julie Doiron has a couple of local live dates lined up, as she usually seems to, with a free in-store on September 10 at 3PM to inaugurate the recently-opened Kensington Market location of Sonic Boom. She will also open up for Ohbijou at Trinity-St. Paul’s on September 30.

MP3: Julie Doiron – “When Brakes Get Wet”

If you’re the sort of person who needs an introduction to the works of Sloan, then you’re probably not someone who’s hung around here much – welcome! – but if you do, head over to Noisetrade to grab a pay-what-you-can 17-track sort-of best-of compilation. And yes, you can pay nothing if that’s how you roll.

The Line Of Best Fit gets acquainted with Chad VanGaalen and his unique brand of interview awkwardness. VanGaalen is at The Mod Club on October 28.

Rolling Stone has gotten on the Louise Burns bandwagon, having a quick chat with the singer and offering a new track for download.

MP3: Louise Burns – “Drop Names Not Bombs”

Beirut have discovered one of the perks of staggered digital and physical releases – double the press cycles. There were a flurry of pieces when The Rip Tide came out through online sources back at the start of August, and now that the vinyl and CD are available? Features in The National Post, Vanity Fair, Huffington Post, Irish Times, Paste, Pitchfork and Time. That Zach Condon is a clever boy.

The Line Of Best Fit talks to Jason Lytle about the legacy of Grandaddy on the occasion of the vinyl reissues of The Sophtware Slump and Sumday.

The Fly gets a courtyard video session from The Antlers.

NPR has a KCRW session with My Morning Jacket.

Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard talks drinking and excessive drinking with Spinner.

The Grid and NOW chat with Peter Bjorn & John, who kick off a two-night stand at Lee’s Palace tonight.

AltsoundsLondon’s Summer Camp are clearly believers in the long game. Since emerging in the Fall of 2009 with their identities shrouded in mystery – they were originally thought to be a Swedish collective – they’ve gradually revealed more and more about themselves while keeping up a steady stream of ’80s-worshipping, in both sound and theme, infectious electro-pop.

Now, almost two years since first causing a fuss, the duo of Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey are ready to release their full-length debut which they’ve christened Welcome To Condale and set for a decidedly un-Summery October 31 release. Financed via Pledgemusic fan support and produced by Pulp’s Steve Mackey, the 12-track long-player only carries over one track from last year’s Young EP and that most likely re-recorded. And that’s probably just as well – as delectable as that release was, they’ve certainly had enough time to write all-new material and goodness we want some new tunes.

Clash has details on the release and you can stream the first single over at long-time band supporter Gorilla Vs Bear; some of the older material is available to hear and watch below. And while it’s probably a bit much to hope for any touring on this side of the Atlantic, it’s worth pointing out that despite their two-piece, heavily programmed configuration not seeming like it’d lend itself to a compelling live show, they were one of the uncontested highlights of SXSW this year.

MP3: Summer Camp – “I Want You”
MP3: Summer Camp – “Ghost Train”
MP3: Summer Camp – “Veronica Sawyer”
Stream: Summer Camp – “Better Off Without You”
Video: Summer Camp – “Ghost Train”
Video: Summer Camp – “Round The Moon”

Also announcing album release details this week was Florence & The Machine. Clearly hoping to find its way under Christmas trees, Ms Welch and company’s second album will be out on November 8, and while it still doesn’t have a title, it does have a video for the first single. Check it out and read an interview with Welch about the new record at Pitchfork.

Video: Florence & The Machine – “What The Water Gave Me”

If you, like me, are thinking about going to see Londonites Male Bonding at The Horseshoe next Friday night – September 2 – but want a head start on hearing their new record Endless Now before it’s officially out on August 30, head over to Punk News as it’s streaming in whole right now, while Spin has a chat and a tune available to download. And if you can’t make the show or it’s not enough, the band are also playing an instore at Kops that evening at 6PM.

MP3: Male Bonding – “Tame The Sun”
Stream: Male Bonding / Endless Now

One of the more hilariously reviled British guitar bands of recent memory – Viva Brother (formerly just Brother) – will put Toronto’s Anglophilia to the test when they bring their debut Famous First Words to the Horseshoe on October 13, tickets $13. There’s interviews at The Belfast Telegraph and BBC.

Video: Viva Brother – “Darling Buds Of May”

You cannot understand how happy I was to hear that Anna Calvi – whose Toronto debut in May I missed due to being in Spain – was coming back for a show at Lee’s Palace on December 8, tickets $15. I was, like, super-happy. Also making me super-happy is this set of videos of Calvi performing on the rooftop at Spin.

MP3: Anna Calvi – “Blackout”

NPR has a World Cafe session with James Blake, who will be at The Phoenix on September 30. And if you’re curious about the Fall Creek Boys Choir project he’s working on with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, The Quietus has a stream of the first taste of the collaboration.

Stereogum checks in with Ladytron on the status of their new record Gravity The Seducer, due out September 13. They play The Phoenix on October 5.

Lucky talks sartorial style with Emmy The Great.

Via a blog post, Billy Bragg responds to the London riots by declaring it high time that people started making political music again.

The Alternate Side has a video session with Art Brut while The San Francisco Examiner talks comics with Eddie Argos.

Sweden’s Little Dragon will bring their acclaimed third album Ritual Union to town for a show at the somewhat less acclaimed Hoxton venue – nee 69 Bathurst – on October 12. Many are hoping that demand for this show forces it into a larger venue… There’s a session with Little Dragon over at NPR.

MP3: Little Dragon – “Feather”
Video: Little Dragon – “When I Go Out”

Back to the mysterious duo meme for a moment, jj continue to disregard conventions of album cycles, getting paid for their work or song title length by posting a new MP3 on their blog this week for free download.

MP3: jj – “You Don’t Know How Much It Would Hurt Me If You Said That You Were In Love With Me”

NPR have posted a KEXP session with Peter Bjorn & John, in town at Lee’s Palace on September 2 and 3. Cleveland.com also has an interview.

France’s Revolver appear set to make a return to Toronto, having scheduled a show at The Horseshoe for October 16.

MP3: Revolver – “Get Around Town”

Jane Birkin will be performing the songs of Serge Gainsbourg at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on December 7, tickets $34.50 in advance.

Video: Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg – “Je t’aime”

And coincidentally – or maybe not so – their daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg has released a new video for the title track of her forthcoming Terrible Angels EP, out September 6 – details on the release at Pitchfork. A new double-album, Stage Whisper, will follow on November 8.

Video: Charlotte Gainsbourg – “Terrible Angels”

And once more with the Euro duos. Disco-pop outfit Keep Shelly In Athens, who actually hail from the Athens in Greece and not Georgia – usually a no-brainer except when you’re talking indie-centric music – will be embarking on their first North American tour this Fall, including a November 16 date at Wrongbar in Toronto. Tickets are $15 in advance but you can win some by posting when and where you’d like to see them on their Facebook.

MP3: Keep Shelly In Athens – “Running Out On You”
MP3: Keep Shelly In Athens – “Fokionos Negri Street”

Frank YangThe timing of Beirut’s first shows back in Toronto in a couple of years was a bit curious, coming as it did three weeks before the release of their new record The Rip Tide (though it’s out digitally tomorrow). You wouldn’t hear any word of complaint about it from their fans, however, as most would already be acquainted with the new material via live recordings circulating online and any opportunity to see the Zach Condon-led orkestar was to be celebrated, not questioned. Particularly when there were two of them – I was at the second show last Thursday evening – and especially when Owen Pallett was going to be there as support.

Pallett’s presence wasn’t just happenstance – he worked on their 2007 album The Flying Club Cup and they with him on his Spectrum, 14th Century EP and they’d toured together in the past. So lots of history there and thus completely appropriate that Pallett opened his set and the show with a reading of “Cliquot”, the song he co-wrote and sang lead on from The Flying Club Cup. Normally it wouldn’t be notable that Pallett played the first couple songs of the show on his own as with a few exceptions he’s been a solo performer for much of his career, but this was one of the first shows billed as Owen Pallett & Les Mouches wherein he was joined by Rob Gordon and Matt Smith, his bandmates in said pre-Final Fantasy trio. I was curious as to how this would work, not just because I’ve always loved the one-man orchestra aspect of Pallett’s live shows but because my memories of Les Mouches circa seven or eight years ago aren’t especially fond (personal musical taste).

It didn’t take long for any potential misgivings to be put to rest, however, as Smith and Gordon’s contributions to Pallett’s compositions were stunning. The drums were used less for rhythm than as accents and filling in the orchestral space, alternately evoking tuba and timpani parts, while Smith’s guitar was put to work simulating a brass section or pizzicato sings; only on the rare occasions where they were intended to sound like conventional guitar and drums did they sound at all odd. They were at their fullest-sounding when Kelly Pratt of Beirut joined in on trumpet but as their set wound down, it was back down to Pallett on his own. Les Mouches were meant to rejoin on “This Is the Dream of Win and Regine” but technical difficulties scuppered that visit to Has A Good Home, meaning the two final songs were a terrific cover of Caribou’s “Odessa” and finally Heartland‘s “Lewis Takes His Shirt Off”. By rights, an artist of Pallett’s stature shouldn’t be opening up for anyone, particularly in his hometown, but I’m certainly more than happy he did.

I’ve only ever been a casual Beirut fan, mostly indifferent to Gulag Orkestar while everyone else was losing their minds for it. It took a rousing SXSW 2007 set and some time spent with The Flying Club Cup to win me over and even then, I didn’t make it to any of their local shows since then. All of which is to say this would be my first proper Beirut concert experience, and it was a good one. I’d go so far as to say that having only a moderate degree of familiarity with their records enhanced my enjoyment of it as the twists and turns of the songs – all horns and swoons, loping bass, wheezing accordion and martial drums and on a few occasions Pallett’s violin – were made all the more exciting from the not knowing what could come next. And of course, it would be remiss to not mention Condon’s rich, sonorous voice which for all the swirling instrumentation remains the core of Beirut. He’s blessed with pipes that can make just about anything sound timeless and romantic, which he uses to full effect and when combined with the theatricality inherent in the act of stepping back and raising a horn to your mouth, it’s hard not to put on a stirring show.

The set list covered all points of the Beirut discography including more than half of The Rip Tide, which suited me just fine as in my estimation it’s their finest work yet; more song-focused than their earlier works and leaner-sounding while remaining plenty lush. I was a bit surprised that the March Of The Zapotec/Realpeople Holland got as much play as it did, but pleasantly so as in peeling away the more overt electronic elements from the Realpeople material turned them into some of the highlights of the show, particularly main set closer “My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille”. At an hour and fifteen minutes including encore, the show ran a bit shorter than I’d expected but the arc of the journey was pretty much perfect.

BlogTO was also on hand for Thursday’s show while The Globe & Mail, Exclaim and The National Post offered thoughts on the Tuesday night show.

The Rip Tide is streaming in full at NPR up until its August 30 street date.

Photos: Beirut, Owen Pallett & Les Mouches @ The Phoenix – August 4, 2011
MP3: Beirut – “My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille”
MP3: Beirut – “Postcards From Italy”
MP3: Owen Pallett – “A Man With No Ankles”
MP3: Owen Pallett – “Lewis Takes Off His Shirt”
MP3: Final Fantasy – “The Butcher”
MP3: Final Fantasy – “Ultimatum”
Video: Beirut – “Elephant Gun”
Video: Beirut – “The Concubine
Video: Beirut – “Postcards From Italy”
Video: Owen Pallett – “The Great Elsewhere”
Video: Owen Pallett – “Lewis Takes Off His Shirt”
Video: Final Fantasy – “Horsetail Feathers”
Video: Final Fantasy – “The Butcher”
Video: Final Fantasy – “He Poos Clouds”
Video: Final Fantasy – “This Lamb Sells Condos”
Stream: Beirut / The Rip Tide

Jens Lekman has made the title track of his forthcoming EP An Argument With Myself available to download. It comes out September 20.

MP3: Jens Lekman – “An Argument With Myself”

Pitchfork has got Peter Bjorn & John preforming the whole of their latest Gimme Some on camera. They play Lee’s Palace on September 2 and 3.

The North American dates in support of Bryan Ferry’s latest Olympia have been announced and a Casino Rama date on October 8 is standing in for a proper Toronto show.

Video: Roxy Music – “More Than This”

The Guardian profiles Devonté Hynes of Blood Orange, whose debut Coastal Grooves arrives August 30.

Laura Marling has released the first video from her next album A Creature I Don’t Know; the album is out September 13 and she plays The Great Hall on September 23.

Video: Laura Marling – “Sophia”

Spinner and The San Francisco Chronicle interview Ellie Goulding.

Frank YangI’ll admit that sometimes I get a bit protective of bands. Particularly those who tour from far and distant lands without the benefit of a lot of buzz behind them; I’ve seen too many bands play too less than double-digits of people and just felt bad for them… and for myself because you’re unlikely to get the best show out of a band who thinks they’re playing to no one.

These were the sorts of concerns I had leading up to the Toronto debut of Allo Darlin’ – in all the way from London – at the El Mocambo on Saturday night. None of the band, tour or show seemed to be particularly well-promoted (though I did my part) and even if they were, the timing was tough as the indie/Brit-pop contingent also had Gruff Rhys and Architecture In Helsinki shows that evening to choose from. I had fallen quite in love with the band’s self-titled debut, but had fears of walking into the El Mo and finding a near-empty room.

Happily, such was not the case and by the time the foursome took the stage at half-eleven, I guesstimated just shy of eighty or so people in attendance. Not a packed house by any means, but certainly a respectable one and one that got treated to about as adorable and entertaining a show as anyone could have hoped for. Their hour-long set was a study in fun, with frontwoman Elizabeth Morris proving that the ukulele was as headbanging an instrument as anything else, dancing and pogoing around the stage. And really, for a band that’s rather instantly and mostly fairly pigeonholed as twee-pop, they brought some seriously punk rock energy to the proceedings, Morris’ sweet voice and phrasing taking an unexpected but entirely welcome Louise Wener-ish edge in the live setting.

In between some colourful banter – apparently the show in Montreal the night before was interrupted when someone smashed the club doors with a sledge hammer – they melted hearts with a selection of songs from their debut, a few new tunes from their second album – entitled Europe and presumably finished though apparently not out anytime too soon – and a cover of The French’s “The Wu Tang Clan” to close the main set out. By this point a call for an encore was assured and they obliged with their hilarious single “Henry Rollins Don’t Dance”, wrapping a wonderful little set. Morris mentioned earlier in the show that she heard Toronto doesn’t get much in the way of indie-pop coming through town, and that’s probably true enough. If they want to up our regular dosage of Allo Darlin’, I won’t complain a bit.

Allo Darlin’s North American tour has less than a week to go (though they’ve sworn to reschedule the week of west coast shows cancelled on account of late vias) – if you’re in one of the cities remaining on the itinerary, go. Just go.

Photos: Allo Darlin’ @ The El Mocambo – June 11, 2011
MP3: Allo Darlin’ – “My Heart Is A Drummer”
MP3: Allo Darlin’ – “Dreaming”
Video: Allo Darlin’ – “My Heart Is A Drummer”
Video: Allo Darlin’ – “If Loneliness Was Art”
Video: Allo Darlin’ – “Dreaming”
Video: Allo Darlin’ – “The Polaroid Song”

A couple big British concert announcements over the last couple days; The Horrors will follow up the July 26 release of Skying with a Fall North American tour that includes a September 27 date at Lee’s Palace. Tickets $20 in advance.

MP3: The Horrors – “Sea Within A Sea”

And at long last, Elbow are coming back to Toronto for their own, non-Chris Martin-tainted show as part of a Fall tour. Not even the fact that the September 28 show is at The Sound Academy can dampen my happiness about this. Tickets are $38.50, on sale Saturday.

Video: Elbow – “Open Arms”

White Lies have a new video. They’re at The Phoenix on August 3.

Video: White Lies – “Holy Ghost”

Spin puts Arctic Monkeys on their latest cover. Well, one of their latest covers.

Emmy The Great has posted an unabridged version of the feature that ran in The Guardian last week, making a worthy read even better. The Stool Pigeon has also posted a mixtape from Emmy as relates to her new album Virtue.

Nouse have an interview with Slow Club, whoe are gearing up for the release of their second album with a new website and a new video for their new single “Two Cousins”, though you have to sign up to their mailing list to watch the thing.

Belle & Sebastian have rolled out a new video from Write About Love and are teasing the release of another one coming later today – I’ll update when it’s up. And while we wait for the future to arrive, Magnet takes us back to the past by posting their cover feature on the band circa 2006, back when they were a magazine and had covers.

Video: Belle & Sebastian – “Come On Sister”
Video: Belle & Sebastian – “I Didn’t See It Coming”

Sons & Daughters are streaming their new record Mirror Mirror at The Guardian. It’s out now in the UK but not until July 12 in North America.

Stream: Sons & Daughters / Mirror Mirror

The Irish Independent, Star-Observer, Irish Times and SX News have feature pieces on Patrick Wolf, whose new album Lupercalia is out next wek.

NME talks to Stornoway about what they might have planned for album number two.

The Guardian declares that Pulp are more important, culturally speaking, than ever.

NPR has posted a World Cafe session with a couple of songwriting legends currently on tour together, Richard Thompson and Loudon Wainwright III. Thompson is here solo on September 8 for a show at Koerner Hall.

Danish post-punk teen act Iceage will be at Parts & Labour on August 17 in support of their debut album New Brigade, out next Tuesday. Pitchfork has full tour dates.

MP3: Iceage – “Broken Bone”
MP3: Iceage – “White Rune”

Spin and NPR have video and audio sessions, respectively, with Peter Bjorn & John, while The Huffington Post talks food with John Erikkson. They’ve got a two-night stand scheduled for Lee’s Palace on September 2 and 3.

Frank YangWhat’s in a name? If you were at The Drake Underground on Friday or Saturday nights, possibly a lot. Over those two nights the marquee outside the front doors read Jonny and Apex Manor, as the two acts were kicking off their North American tour with a two-night stand in Toronto, but had the top billing read Teenage Fanclub and Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci – as Jonny is the collaboration of those two bands’ Norman Blake and Euros Childs – then maybe there’d have been a little less elbow room for those who were in the know enough to show up.

The identity issue might have also applied to the support, as Apex Manor is the new band of Ross Flournoy, who used to front Los Angeles power pop outfit The Broken West, who once upon a time were called The Brokedown. Got that? Good. Though advance listings had stated that this show would feature Apex Manor as an acoustic duo – presumably Flournoy and bassist Brian Whelan, also from The Broken West – but when things got underway it was just Flournoy, his Martin acoustic and a brace of songs drawn mostly from Apex Manor’s debut The Year Of Magical Drinking. And though the stripped-down nature of the set necessarily diminished the “power” half of the equation, the “pop” of things was still very much in effect thanks to the sophisticated hookiness of the material. It was good to be reminded of how good a band The Broken West were – particularly when Flournoy busted out their song “Down In The Valley” – and satisfying to see that carried over into their new incarnation.

No one would accuse Jonny of being an overly serious side-project, but assuming that Childs and Blake – the former with a couple of keyboards to go with his acoustic guitar and the latter handling guitar, drum machine and laptop duties – would treat it as a joke would have been a mistake. Okay, that’s not entirely accurate; there were plenty of jokes as the duo bantered back and forth in a manner worthy of a seasoned stand-up duo, their ultimately aborted attempt to cover the Saxons’ “It Ain’t Right” was more comedy sketch than musical performance and there were running gags of a sort with Childs’ collapsing homemade keyboard stands and Blake’s orchestration of the drum machine, but with the talents on hand, even the silliest songs were immaculately executed.

Considering the Jonny album barely clocks in at 40 minutes, their set was considerably longer than you might have expected. Of course some of that was for the aforementioned between-song back-and-forth, but they also included a number of non-album songs and made what could have been a brief-ish affair not only feel like a full and proper set, but one that reinforced Jonny as its own entity, separate and distinct from the resumes of the two artists who made the band up. Not so much, however, that one of the biggest highlights of the show was the encore wherein each of them busted out a couple of the former/other bands’ tunes. Jonny was charming and all, but hearing “I Don’t Want Control Of You” and “Spanish Dance Troupe” was the guaranteed way to close the night on the highest possible note.

Photos: Jonny, Apex Manor @ The Drake Underground – June 4, 2011
MP3: Jonny – “Candyfloss”
MP3: Jonny – “Gloria”
MP3: Apex Manor – “Under The Gun”
Video: Jonny – “You Was Me”
Video: Jonny – “Candyfloss”
Video: Apex Manor – “My My Mind”
ZIP: Jonny / Free

With reunions must come reissues, and so Pitchfork reports that Pulp’s first three albums – It, Freaks and Separations – will be reissued with bonus material come August 8.

The Independent finds out Elbow frontman Guy Garvey’s secrets to staying grounded while The Sydney Morning Herald chats with guitarist Mark Potter.

Emmy The Great offers a guide to staying virtuous to Clash. Her new album Virtue is out next week.

Exclaim and Metro interview James Blake, in town at The Phoenix on September 30.

Gruff Rhys has released a new video from Hotel Shampoo, just in time to wrap up the North American tour that hits The Horseshoe on June 11.

Video: Gruff Rhys – “Honey All Over”

TapeDek gets The Vaccines to indulge in some old-school Britpop trash talk. The National Post also has a chat.

Clash interviews Ladytron, whose new album Gravity The Seducer arrives September 13.

Beatroute interviews The Raveonettes.

Billboard has got a live video session from Peter Bjorn & John, while Metro, The Province and OC Weekly have interviews. They play Lee’s Palace on September 2 and 3.

aux.tv talks to The Naked & Famous, in town at Lee’s Palace on August 9.

Austin’s Ume have finally announced details of their new long-player; The AV Club has all the details but the key information is that it will be called Phantoms, be released on August 30 and the band will be in town on June 15 at the Drake Underground as part of NXNE. This is not a song from the new record but a good reminder of why they’re a band worth getting excited about.

MP3: Ume – “The Conductor”

The War On Drugs, last seen hereabouts opening up for Destroyer back in April will be back on August 24 at a venue to be named in support of their new record Slave Ambient, out August 16. Pitchfork has full dates and check out the Springsteen-ish first MP3 below.

MP3: The War On Drugs – “Baby Missiles”

Peter Hook brings his new band the Light and their rather questionable re-production of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures to The Phoenix on September 24. “Atmosphere” isn’t from Unknown Pleasures but this video should give you an idea of how they’re doing it. The Spectator has an interview with Hook.

Video: Peter Hook & The Light featuring Rowetta – “Atmosphere”

Once again announcing a new show before their last one has actually happened yet, Foster The People will be at The Sound Academy on October 1, tickets $23.50. More immediately, they’re at The Mod Club on June 18 but that’s sold out.

MP3: Foster The People – “Pumped Up Kicks”

Officially back from Europe/vacation, and let me tell you I am thrilled about it. THRILLED.