"sadcore"

Woah, I've never heard WWP called "sadcore" before. Thanks to the delightful chaps over at adequacy.net for the kind write up. "Washington, D.C. native Mike Boggs makes music everyone can enjoy. And he does it all by himself.

Wielding nothing more than a computer and a few microphones, Boggs, under the moniker We Were Pirates, constructs perfect pop gems, songs that blend together real instruments with blankets of electronic noise. And did I mention that he plays everything himself?

“Nervous,” a stand-out track from his 2007 EP The Wolf, is a beautiful tapestry of subdued guitar work and electronic percussion flourishes, on which Boggs’ ethereal voice dances wildly. “And as we watch the world below us start to fade/I know that everything will be OK,” he sings in the chorus, his voice both vulnerable and aching.

The song demonstrates one of We Were Pirates’ biggest strengths: the ability to create heartfelt, dramatic music out of familiar components. No one will ever accuse Boggs of breaking any musical barriers – his voice is a dead-ringer for Ben Gibbard’s, and his music veers remarkably close to the sadcore niche that Death Cab for Cutie has carved out for itself – but with songs this good, it doesn’t matter. “Nervous” is catchy, well-written and warm, labels made all the more impressive when one considers that every sound is crafted by Boggs himself. In other words, the future looks very, very bright for Mike Boggs, Death Cab be damned.

And did I mention that he plays every instrument himself? Even Ben Gibbard can’t do that."