Sometimes you walk into an open mic or a small music venue in New York and hear something that makes you go, "Well, I’ve never heard that sound before." Gawain and the Green Knight fit that bill. Named after a late 14th-century chivalric romance story, the duo of Alexia Antoniou and Mike O’Malley craft literary folk songs which blend history, literature, and other intellectual pursuits with the usual songwriting themes of anxiety, self-doubt, and desire. Take the band’s song "King Louis", a track about fearing what your crush might say behind your back. However — as Antoniou shows in the just-released music video — the song is also about the titular infamous French ruler, who feared court gossip so much that he kept all of his nobles under his eye. Watch the music video for "King Louis" and see Antoniou decked out in full Louis XIV costume, tearing her wig off as the fear becomes too much to bear. – Will Sisskind
