Introducing: Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele

Name: Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele
From: Oxford, Mississippi
Story: When an obsessive Partridge Family fan meets a globe-conquering rockband in Oxford...
Sound: Classic croonery in half-ironic hipster threads

In 2008, when Animal Collective were making their latest longplayer —the instant-classic Merriweather Post Pavilion— in Oxford, Mississippi, they encountered a peculiar, bespectacled local: obsessive Partridge Family fan Dent May. Rockin' a ukulele and singing in an eager, reverb-drenched croon, May commands a big band (Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele!) who dabble in trombone, pedal steel, and tuned percussion. Quickly inking him to their Paw Tracks label, Animal Collective have spirited May away from his tiny, Southern college town, and onto a global stage; fans of, say, Swedish heartthrob Jens Lekman sure to warm to Dent's uke-strummin' shtick.

On his debut album, The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele, May cops moves from classic American crooners like Glen Campbell, Scott Walker, and Lee Hazlewood, even if he's singing less-than-serious lyrics (like: "I'm over being sober/I'm an alcoholic"). May's sardonic songs largely revolve around, fittingly enough, life in a tiny, Southern college town. Often speaking of the post-graduate loafers who hang around after their college days are done, it's almost a longplaying equivalent of Noah Baumbach's classic mid-'90s American indie movie Kicking and Screaming.

Currently on tour with New Pornographers frontman A.C. Newman, Dent May and crew will soon be playing at SXSW, before a run of UK dates, below, with his label bosses themselves.

• Listen: Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele "Meet Me in the Garden"
• Compare Prices: Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele, The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele

Dent May & His Magnificent Tour Opening for Animal Collective:
March 22: Bristol, England - The Trinity
March 23: Nottingham, England - Rescue Rooms
March 24: London, England - The Forum
March 25: Leeds, England - TJs
March 26: Liverpool, England - The Static Gallery
March 27: Dublin, Ireland - The Tripod
March 28: Belfast, Northern Ireland - Stiff Kitten

Photo © [Denny Renshaw]