Here's another entry in the "My Brother Has Very Talented Friends" category. This particular friend is named Bianca Merkley, and she just put out a new song called 'Hope' which you can download for free here.

(My brother produced that song. And there's the weekly Matt Sucich plug.)

I told you back in February that my brother and the folks he's befriended through the open mic music scene are quite supportive of one another.

It's also worth repeating that they're incredibly talented - so let me introduce you to Bianca.

I think I've only seen Bianca Merkley perform live once - if I'm not mistaken it was at Brick Cafe in Astoria on a night when I saw a bunch of the people my brother plays with one after another - it was a great night of music.

But I follow her on Twitter and whenever she posts something I check it out - and it's always enjoyable.

The new song, which she put out on Thursday, brought me to her website, where for the first time I heard quite a few of her songs in album form.

By that I mean, everything else I'd heard of Bianca's music was live in some way - either in person or on a video somewhere. (Like her blog, for instance, where she posted another song she did with my brother - you can find a link to her blog from her website.)

The girl can sing. Sometimes she joins up with two more talented singers (Amy Vachal and Jamie Bendell, who I'll hopefully get to at some point before the end of the year) singing as a trio called C'est La Rie. (They tell you not to think to hard about what it means...that it just sounds nice. I think it translates literally to "Chest of the King". Or not.)

I don't want to be too gushy about my brother's friends, but take a listen for yourself. I think you'll recognize the talent.

But I know I'm somewhat partial - and not just because of my brother's involvement. He not only has good taste in music...he has good taste in people. And they don't come much nicer than Bianca Merkley. Go check out her music.