Recommended if you like: Beck, Andrew Bird, Paul Simon, Postal Service, Iron & Wine. These United States is the new Washington, DC – a wide-eyed amalgamation of psyche-folk and the punk rock ethic, a band of merry pranksters spinning something fiercely, unapologetically positive out of the sinking reality of an empire gone Titanic. At the helm of the lifeboat rides gonzo-journalist-turned-troubadour Jesse Elliott. Touring tirelessly from Glasgow to San Francisco, New York to Paris to London, El Paso to Amsterdam – and taking their cues as much from Walt Whitman as from Wilco – These United States have always seemed determined to prove that worldwide American manifestations can't be all wrong all the time.