By Tasha King for This Week In Denver

It's an interesting and mutually benefiting proposition, and one that's picking up with new and independent artists. They need an angle that will draw some attention (and maybe even a nudge to get their song writing moving) and I need to never again go into a conglomerate retail giant to buy music. Ari Hest, both a throaty and beguiling singer and deft acoustic guitarist, is taking the power to the people and helping us get the hell out of Best Buy. His indie rock experiment, called 52, offers a web-based music subscription, a brand new song every week for the rest of the year and, in the end, a chance to help compile the best efforts into a full-length album to be released next year.

So far the songs are enchanting - pop in that they're easily transitioned to the airwaves, but not in that they're easily digestible. The song-writing push has Hest working hard for his memberships, with a handful of songs so far that are all multi-dimensional and fully evolved. His use of background vocals and ambient percussion are perfect additions to his chameleon-esque story telling. The songs are explorers in their own right - with "The Weight" pulling in the heaviness of Americana and "In a Rush" coming through in a sexy mambo - and it'll be interesting to see where the final project will go.