MP3: This Time With Feeling – “Let’s Go”
Stream: This Time With Feeling on SoundCloud

Nobody could ever accuse This Time With Feeling of lacking warmth.

The beach-loving Orange County band (is there any other type?) is led by Ali Coyle, a talented singer whose voice is 1/4 St. Vincent, 1/4 Feist, and a whole lot of, well, feeling. The band’s sound, which ranges from mostly acoustic to multi-layered whirlpool of vocals and instrumentation, is also something to behold. Thanks to Coyle’s singing skills, and the respective talents of bassist Tony Dean, guitarist Eliot Cossaboom, and drummer Matthew Craven, pretty much every song by This Time With Feeling is worth repeated listens.

This Time With Feeling has an EP planned for the near future, and if it’s anything like the four-piece’s past work, it’ll be one of the best records out of Southern California this year. In the meantime, This Time With Feeling will play the Sonic-Con indie music showcase this Saturday, June 2 at Porter’s Pub. In anticipation of the show, we asked the band’s members to tell us about their influences. They happily obliged, and you can check out This Time With Feeling’s Poetic Memory below.

Sonic-Con is a music expo held in support of independent record stores and to promote the hobby of music collecting. In addition to a lineup of bands that includes the New Limb, the New Kinetics, Bullet & Snowfox, the Very, the Colourist, Kelsea Little and the 78s, and Tan Sister Radio, Sonic-Con will also feature a record sale, beer garden, and gourmet food trucks. Tickets may be purchased here for $11.50, or at the door for $15. Proceeds will benefit the National Association of Music Merchants, proprietors of the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, California. We’re also giving away two tickets to Sonic-Con; visit our Facebook page to enter.

Poetic Memory: This Time with Feeling

Chicken strips: I love chicken strips. I know that at least Elliott and Tony share my love of this crispy and delicious staple of American eateries. If I am trying a diner or American restaurant for the first time, I get the chicken strips with a side of ranch. If you can’t get chicken strips right, I have no business with you! (Matt Craven, drums)

Orange County: Orange County has a lot of haters. Many people (sometimes including myself) are quick to criticize the OC. It always has traffic, its citizens are hopelessly right-wing, and too may areas are over-developed and over-crowded with fake plastic people. All in all, though, I love Orange County. I like wasting time at the beach. I like skateboarding and hiking. I like Old Town Orange and downtown Fullerton. I love driving. I don’t even mind sitting in traffic much when I’m not in a hurry! Sure, the music scene here is kind of weak sometimes, but we’re working on that! (Matt Craven)

Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory: This has been my favorite movie since the era of VHS. I look up to Mr. Wonka a lot for his bold/shameless spirit. A tireless worker, Mr. Wonka doesn’t give a you-know-what about anything other than bringing his creations to actuality. It is his madness and imagination that he trusts the most, over anybody else’s doubts. He pushes others’ limits, as well as his own with valiance, and he appreciates another kindhearted person when he comes across one. It is these things — as well as his exquisite taste in fashion and chocolate — that I often find myself inspired by. (Ali Coyle, vocals and guitar)

My Dad: Well, where will I begin…He is much like Willy Wonka. He is one of the most charismatic and positive people I know. About seven years ago, he left his corporate job to pursue his dream of opening a restaurant. A lot of people questioned him, as a first timer, and father of three, but he succeeded. I am proud to be a part of his restaurant, Wineworks, and to play a role in the opening of his second restaurant endeavor, Dublin4 Gastropub, in Mission Viejo. (Ali Coyle)

Chocolate: I am eating chocolate. Right now. Searching for inspiration to write this. Enough said. (Ali Coyle)

Music: Thrice (lyrics/songwriting/heaviness), The Duhks (folk roots blues), Civil Wars (passion/harmony), John Mayer (smooth ass tone), MuteMath (HEAVY groove), Maroon 5 (pop groove), JET (dirty grit), Sly and the Family Stone (the soul above all soul). (Tony Dean, bass and vocals)

Things: Bass!, hiking, 3:00am, pineapples, cantaloupe!, bowling, sitting, trouble, shooting, hanging with four-year-olds, bass, cleaning things, Judge Judy, my cat Boomer, chicken, bass. (Tony Dean)

Lincoln by They Might Be Giants: Proof positive that songs can be about some things, not just somethings…I doubt I’ll ever stop coveting “Piece of Dirt.” (Eliot Cossaboom, keys and guitar)

Doolittle by the Pixies: The most compelling argument that the Pixies are the greatest band to have ever played. Even half my life out from finding this record, “Hey” and “Gouge Away” stand amongst the most honest, most visceral pieces I’ve ever heard. (Eliot Cossaboom)

The Highest Step in the World, Joe Kittinger & the Excelsior Missions: A man rides a balloon to space, sitting in an open gondola, protected only by a pressure suit. He leaves and falls 19.4 miles at 614 miles per hour, and walks away unscathed. Colonel Joseph Kittinger looked up, saw space, and stepped out. The most incredible thing to have ever happened. (Eliot Cossaboom)