It was just about one year ago that we volunteered a mesmerizing video of This Is The Kit in which the band performed at the Music Now Festival in Cincinnati.  At the time, rumors were circulating that the band would finish up a new album by the end of 2013 produced by none other than Aaron Dessner (The National).  Both The National and Dessner-produced Sharon Van Etten had touted This Is The Kit so the rumors of Dessner and the album all made sense.  While the album has yet to be released, This Is The Kit was hand-picked by The National as openers on its European tour, and rumors continue to rumble that This Is The Kit will soon complete the new album.

In support of those rumors, we’ve stumbled upon (courtesy of  The Line of Best Fit) two new songs (presumably from the new album) performed solo by bandleader Kate Stables.  Watch below as Stables performs unreleased songs Spores (on banjo) and All Written Out In Numbers (on guitar). What is it that leaves us so paralytically transfixed by these songs? Is it the spare arrangement, the haunting melodies, Stables’ crystalline voice, the gravity of the lyrics, or all of the above?  Regardless, This Is The Kit has been mired in obscurity for far too long.  Watch and listen below.

Afterwards, watch a video from one year ago in which Aaron Dessner hints at the possibilities of their collaboration with his gritty-guitar coloratura added (at the 3:23 mark and after) to the band’s performance of Two Wooden Spoons.  Transfixed.  Again.

We can’t wait for the new album and hopefully a tour of North America.