Tonight is the premier of the second season of Portlandia, a sketch comedy series featuring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein. If you have ever watched an episode of the series, or perhaps seen a commercial, then you have probably heard the theme song, a laid-back melody of dreamily filtered vocals and lo-fi popsynth sounds. The song, entitled "Feel It All Around" comes from Washed Out's EP, Life of Leisure, and maintains the perfect mood for the show's introduction sequence of Portland images that play across the television screen. "Feel It All Around" samples Gary Low's "I Want You" (1983).
So who is this Washed Out character? Georgia's Ernest Greene, a University of South Carolina graduate with a Master's degree in Library and Information Science. After graduating and returning home to Georgia, Greene began producing tracks in his bedroom and eventually caught bloggers and Myspacers' attention with his array of "chillwave" tracks that brought him to prominence and to Portlandia's opening credits. His songwriting and production abilities are admirable and almost addicting after a few listens.
"Feel It All Around" comes from Washed Out's second EP, which debuted September 8th, 2009 on the label Mexican Summer. His most recent album, Within and Without released on Sub Pop on July 12, 2011. He is currently touring Japan, Australia and New Zealand and will continue on to Spain and Portugal. Follow him on Songkick to keep track of when he's back in the U.S. and in the mean time, check out his tracks on MySpace.
So if you are planning on tuning in to Portlandia tonight and have been wondering about the incredibly smooth synths playing at the beginning of the episode, wonder no more. Listen to Washed Out on iTunes and hear the rest for yourself.
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