#foragestyle

[mywifeleftme]

128: Swearin' // Swearin'

Swearin' Swearin' 2012, Salinas (Bandcamp)

I never saw Swearin’ at a house show (though the bar I did see them at held maybe 30 people), but in the same way the smell of Sambuca makes my saliva queasily thicken, the second the needle drops on their s/t I get notes of Pabst, cigarette-couch/carpet, hot scalp, the wine of an overworked fan, giggling, keys jingling on carabiners, floor-lamp lighting, amp sizzle. (Pinning this idea for a band name here: Dirty Madeleine.)

Inane tag cloud ideas: loft apartment indie; park drinking punk; bike messenger affirmations; co-opcore; foragestyle; couch surf rock.

Me, as a YouTube commenter in nine years: I made out for the second time with the first girl I ever moved in with at a Swearin’ show! We don’t talk anymore, but I hope she is well.

Anyway, Swearin’ was always my fav of the Crutchfield twins’ many projects, emerging from the breakup of Birmingham, Alabama’s fondly remembered P.S. Eliot when Allison decided to pursue her own voice as a songwriter and move to NYC. She ended up dating and forming a band with Kyle Gilbride of Big Soda, and that band was Swearin’, so now you’re caught up.

The Crutchfield Twins’ Many Projects

Pre-2007: The Ackleys (Allison + Katie) 2007-2011: P.S. Eliot (Allison + Katie) 2011-present: Waxahatchee (Katie) 2012-2015, 2017-present?: Swearin’ (Allison) 2014-2017?: Allison Crutchfield solo 2022: Plains (Katie)

Robert Christgau said of P.S. Eliot, “Always there is the sound of becoming that the young treasure for one reason and the ex-young value for quite another,” and I think he’s on to what makes both Katie and Allison’s ‘00s and early ‘10s music so appealing—though the diaristic lyrics are angsty, sometimes irritable, or glum, there’s a comforting sense that they’re cool young people who are going to be Alright in the end. Even though the people in these songs may not have the details figured out, they know what the life they want feels like—and that translates into the aesthetics of the music. For Swearin’, it’s a form of comfortably broken-in indie rock with its influences (Breeders, the Merge Records catalogue, ‘90s pop punk, Julianna Hatfield etc.) so thoroughly subsumed that it sounds whole. Gilbride’s a big vocal presence here as well, his adenoidal whine a welcome contrast to Allison’s unfussed ‘90s alternative vibe. He takes lead on one of the self-titled’s real winners, the irresistible problem-party-guest narrative “Crashin’,” complete with a riff and solo that’d get a goofy thumbs up from the boys in Superchunk.

An album that is top-to-bottom charming like this one only needs a single stone classic to stay in the rotation for the long haul, and Swearin’ has one in “Just.” It’s an all-time romantic song in my personal canon, headlong as a crazy kiss in an alley, popping ‘60s girl group poses in the verses, with a chorus as elemental as they come. Crutchfield’s lyrics don’t miss either, mingling hesitation (“Closed off from love / I didn’t need the pain”) and dizzy desire (“I knew you had me the night we met / my empty room dripping wet / make believe we’re in my bed”).

Other Choice Words:

“Tennessee River, a drunken relapse / And her new girlfriend, she’s got a new girlfriend now.” (“Movie Star”) “Kings of the Airwaves / deprive and depraved / Fruit from the market / Demo tape cassette” (“Hundreds & Thousands”) “An artist’s mind / is stimulated by the aesthetic / I don’t know about art / but I think your music’s shit.” (“Fat Chance”)

Swearin’ cut a second very good record before calling it quits when Gilbride and Crutchfield broke things off, but they had a fine comeback with 2018’s Fall into the Sun, and I surely wouldn’t mind more from them. Consider this a call for like, Steve Malkmus to dial them up next time Pavement needs an opening act. Let’s do this.

128/365

[demoisverysexy]

Not a take, but I wanna send you teas. Locally sourced Missouri foragestyle. What kind of flavors do you like? Sugar? Cream??

Ooh if its herbal I am so down. I dont drink proper tea (Mormon lol), but I have enjoyed mint and licorice herbal teas in the past. I am down to try anything. I usually try it either plain or with some added sugar, never tried cream in it. But Im adventurous when it comes to this!

[kageki-kokoro]

1, 15, 31 ^w^

1) my 4th worst picture

15)

My personality is getting worse and gayer by the day

31)

I can tell you like, a lot about edible wild plants. Foragestyle.

I've got at least 15 critter skulls

I hate pears more than almost anything