Victoria Abraham defines one up and coming artist each week so you can impress your friends with your musical brilliance. This week, she tackles Dead Man’s Bones, a folk-rock duo from Los Angeles. We haven’t heard much from Dead Man’s Bones lately, so this is a bit of a throwback post AND a plea for them to make more music.

There are two particularly awesome things about Dead Man’s Bones. One: their folk-rock sound. Two: RYAN GOSLING. Yup, Ryan Gosling is in a band. So just in case your crush on him was wavering, he decided to become even more awesome. But, unlike other actors-turned-rockstar situations, Dead Man’s Bones is actually genuine, different and worth your ear time.

Band members: Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields. Gosling performs under the alias “Baby Goose.”

Known for: Dead Man’s Bones are known for their dark lyrics and imperfectly perfect songs..

Used in a sentence: “Dead Man’s Bones is like accidentally discovering those two cute guys from high school have a morbid fascination with zombies and horror movies, yet you’re still totally into them.”

File next to: Flight of the Conchords

Download now: “My Body’s a Zombie for You”

Fun facts: Gosling met Shields when The Notebook star was dating Rachel McAdams. Shields was dating her sister at the time. They bonded over their mutual love of horror movies and music. So they decided to create a scary musical.

Eventually they decided to just focus on the music. The band has a personal rule of not doing any more than three takes for any song, embracing the imperfections that occur. They also play all the instruments themselves.

Timeline: Read more…