Lycaon Pictus, ‘I Give You a Rose’ – Free MP3 Download

Founded by two former members of Challenge of the Future, a '90s-era Bard College band that featured future Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, Lycaon Pictus makes "avant-rock" that does justice to both halves of that hyphenated descriptor. Wonky yet walloping, the trio's tunes have earned them acclaim in their home base of Brooklyn, and thanks to a new movie, they're about to go national.

In director Austin Chick's 'Girls Against Boys,' a "grindhouse meets art house" flick due in theaters on Feb. 1, Lycaon Pictus appears in a key Halloween party scene, performing the tune we're giving away today. The movie is all about two scorned women taking revenge on menfolk, but as Lycaon Pictus singer Aaron Diskin explains, their cameo comes at a relatively tender moment in the otherwise dark and gory film. While he didn't initially dig 'I Give You a Rose,' he sees how it's perfect for the scene.

"We had gathered to listen to some song sketches for our 2005 album 'Personal Disaster' when 'I Give You A Rose' was written," Diskin tells Diffuser.fm. "My bandmates immediately recognized the song as strong, but I never liked it. It's only because they were so keen on it that we finished it, and now it's one of our best. In the new film 'Girls Against Boys,' the director Austin Chick uses 'I Give You A Rose' in an interesting way to move the story forward.  In the scene where we appear performing it, the protagonist realizes she has just fallen for a guy that she has a crush on, and then our romantic song pops up."