Hello and welcome back to Three Songs to the Head where we share three songs that moved us, three songs we love, three songs we can’t get out of our heads! Today, we’re featuring Sebastian and the Deep Blue, Fauna Shade and The Gin Joints. Enjoy!

Sebastian and the Deep Blue have always been skilled at arranging. Utilizing big horns, jazzy guitars and lovely vocal mixes, the band creates detailed, thorough music. The first track from their new record Meritocracy, “Risk Reward,” is no different. The track bumps with big saxophones. It slinks with violins. And it impresses with the chorus, “I’m never gonna give it up!” Lead singer, Barry Sebastian, recently went through a cancer scare so that dancing with death can’t be removed from the song’s message of living life strong and full.

Everett’s band darlings, Fauna Shade, are in the middle of promotion for their new EP Floral Hall and recently released a single, “No Nostalgia.” The song rips and screams with bubbly bass and vocals that shred and seem to echo forever. It’s the sort of song you might put on at 1 am after taking a sip of a 40 oz or Nyquil. It’s the sort of song you might put on repeat as you’re scribbling poetry in the dark. It’s big and bold and foundational.

The Gin Joints are a new group in town and feature Seattle mainstays Birch Pereira on bass and vocals, Jason Goessl on guitar, Sam Esecson on drums and Kate Voss on Harmonies. On this cover of “Lost Highway,” Pereira sweetly carries the lyrics of loss as Goessl accompanies on lead guitar. The quartet are masters of the early Americana sound. In short, we expect big things from their upcoming record, Dream Man.