Singer/songwriter and music producer, Sam Densmore has been a musician his whole life, teaching himself guitar and eventually earning a BA degree in music composition in 1996. A self-proclaimed Rock n’ Roll Renaissance man at heart, he started out by playing in south coast clubs at age 14. Since then he’s performed on bills with a diverse array of indie artists including Frank Black, Richmond Fontaine, and Mike Watt; among others. Curtis Irie is the leader of the Portland based rocksteady/blues/reggae band, Irie Idea. Recent bookings of note include opening slots for The Slackers, and onstage collaborations with members of the Menzingers and the Delirians. A consummate entertainer, his live show is upbeat, engaging and features ace harmonica playing and strong guitar chops.

Collectively, their influences run the gamut from modern indie folk and rock, to blues and early Jamaican music, yet their collaborative record, Quit Work Make Music (June 10) boasts two individual styles, while still sporting an identity all it’s own. The mixture of rhythmic, pulsating guitar melody and barreled vocals on “Old Ghost”, a song about growing older and feeling invisible in today’s youth oriented world, sides with the duo’s indie-folk side — whereas the honest, yet elusive “Flea Circus Star” radiates a sad, cold mood, assembled by the allure of a pop tune and operated by country twang and sparkle. “Sunday Dinner”, is a lo-fi, bar-friendly singalong that by nightfall will have you feeling confident enough to adopt the duo’s relaxed attitude and sense of humor — yet by morning, you’ll awake with just enough time to get yourself together for work and back to reality. Not everyone can Quit Work Make Music, but Densmore and Irie sure do make it sound enticing.