Considering its soft and somber tones, I’m unusually excited by Drawing Down The Moon, the latest from Azure Ray. How come? It feels as though all of Maria Taylor and Orenda Fink‘s medicore solo efforts of the past seven years never happened, and the plains state brooders picked up right where they left off with 2003′s magnificent Hold On Love.

So the new record – definitely a welcome thing. But in an effort to cope with the fact that, well, nobody buys hard copies of records anymore, Taylor and Fink (and their label, I’m sure) cooked up a multi-tiered sales scheme for Drawing Down the Moon that borders on ridiculous. Your casual, economical consumer just gets the album on CD, mp3 or vinyl for $8 to $13. For slightly more, they get a t-shirt, autographed poster, and some stickers and buttons.

But for über-fan, the one willing to shell out $50 plus shipping, they can have all this plus:
- a custom woven friendship bracelet
- a small glass jar devotional candle
- a canvas tote
- an imprinted corkscrew

Seriously, an Azure Ray corkscrew? Actually, considering the amount of wine I’ve thrown back to Hold On Love over the years, that’s not exactly a bad idea. Bring it.

Drawing Down The Moon is out on Saddle Creek Records on Sept. 14.