#james krivchenia

[thepermanentrainpress]

Gallery: Big Thief @ Orpheum - Vancouver, BC Date: August 3, 2023 Photographed by: Ray Maichin

[karmaalwayswins]

Big Thief performs "Vampire Empire" live on The Late Show in 2023.

Video Credit: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

[sinceileftyoublog]

Hayden Interview: Live With It

Photo by Christie Greyerbiehl

BY JORDAN MAINZER

For Hayden Desser, the past six years raised a lot of questions. He labored over his tenth record Are We Good (Arts & Crafts), finally out tomorrow, questioning everything from the quality of the album to the sequencing and cover art. In the meantime, he and his wife weathered the lockdown raising their two children, their son struggling with online learning and his daughter, who has developmental disabilities, unable to attend her school. As such, the phrase, “Are we good?”, whether referring to the royal we, Desser and his family, or the human race in general, became not just the title of the record, but a rallying cry whose answer was to embrace the uncertainty.

Much of Are We Good was written at home during lockdown and through various songwriting sessions with indie heavyweights like The National’s Matt Berninger and Feist. The National’s Aaron Dessner heard an early version of the title track, which made him want to work with Desser; he ended up co-producing a few tracks the tracks on the record, bringing in Big Thief drummer James Krivchenia and engineer Jonathan Low on “We Danced” and barroom piano jaunt “It’s Just Me”. Despite the many creative influences on Are We Good, it’s of course Desser’s lyrical and musical voice, his sly humor and earnest emotions that shine through. “East Coast”, “Nothing Wrong”, and “Can’t Happen Now” are familial devotionals, while the playful “On A Beach” and “Miss Fort Eerie” use clever wordplay and storytelling techniques to imagine worlds parallel to Desser’s, even if not far from the truth. And songs like “Terry Cloth Blue (Every Single Thing)” and “Window Washer Blues” offer levity in the way of a sometimes brooding record.

Nonetheless, there’s an unease behind Are We Good that makes the album immensely relatable. Speaking over the phone from his home in Toronto last month, in between dry jokes, Desser sometimes had trouble describing it. “I’m just starting to talk about this record, and I’m sort of trying to figure out how to talk about it,” he said. “I’m also trying to not be scared to say, ‘I’m not sure why this is that or if it works.’...In some ways, I was trying to finish something. It was sometimes easy and sometimes difficult. At the end, it didn’t make anything better or worse, just something I could live with.” It was that release of expectations, living with it, that ultimately gave Desser the space to reflect on the final project. “Thankfully,” he said, “I think it’s among the best things I’ve ever done.”

Read my conversation with Desser below, edited for length and clarity.

Since I Left You: This record was born out of multiple songwriting sessions, including one with Aaron Dessner. How did you whittle down the track list to form a cohesive whole from the 60 or so tracks in contention?

Hayden Desser: In some ways, for the first time in a long time, I was a bit lost during the making of the record. We’re talking about a 6-and-a-half-year period, so it was a lot of time, a lot of things going on in one’s life and in the outside world. Throughout that, I went through periods of being extremely creative and really inspired by what I was working on, and that would then turn into not really knowing what I had and what I could do with it, whether it was good or bad. It was all over the place. Things like Aaron coming on board at a certain point was helpful in many ways. Some of the new elements that came into the scene helped, and some made the record take longer. It was one of the hardest records I’ve ever made.

SILY: How would you compare writing during the pandemic to your previous writing experiences?

HD: I can’t speak for anyone else, but my particular situation, the isolation pandemic period was extremely difficult for my family. Our daughter has developmental disabilities, and it just created a situation that made it very hard to have concentrated work time. I wasn’t one of those people who started making sourdough bread and pottery. I had less spare time because my daughter wasn’t in her special school that she loves and needs so badly. My 7-year-old (at the time) son was struggling trying to do online learning while his sister was breaking things in the house. My wife and I were just losing our minds, to be honest.

SILY: On the song “Nothing Wrong”, when you sing, “There’s nothing wrong with you / You are still my favorite creature / You are my past as well as future / My sweet destroyer of car mirrors,” is that a reference to your daughter?

HD: [laughs] Every song is a reference to her since she was born.

SILY: Why did you release “East Coast” as the first taste of the album before it was even announced?

HD: “East Coast” was a song that came together later in the process in the final year of working on the record. There was something about the rhythm, lyrics, and feel of it that I felt was special, to be honest.

SILY: It’s also the opening track, and one that drops you into the world of the album without much preparation. It begins suddenly. Were you consciously thinking about that when ordering the tracks?

HD: The ordering of the tracks is an interesting one because I labored over several sequences over a three-to-four-year period, including incarnations of the record with songs no longer on it. I would go for runs in my neighborhood and listen to myself over and over again, different sequences and trying out different combinations. It was a bit of a worry at some point. Over the last 30 years, I always felt I would figure out the right way something should be, even if it was a struggle. On this record, I started doubting if I would ever find that. Finally, at the end, I got a tip that Kevin Drew from Broken Social Scene, a friend and awesome fella, has a knack for sequencing records. [laughs] So I sent him all the songs in no particular order, and he had his way with the record. What he sent back was something totally unexpected. I didn’t dwell on it. I was just so done with figuring out how the songs should be. He came up with something he was excited about, and I thought, “That’s really interesting: Let’s just do it.”

SILY: So this was his order?

HD: Yeah, this was his order. 

SILY: That’s pretty cool.

HD: Yeah...if you like the order.

SILY: I do! But if anybody reading this doesn’t, they know who to complain to.

HD: I should have asked his permission to give away the fact that this is his fault or his good taste.

SILY: On “We Danced” and “Terry Cloth Blue”, the former a dedication to Leonard Cohen and the latter a first crush song, you refer to real songs by past artists. As a songwriter, how do you go about making that decision?

HD: Everyone always talks about the power of music and how it can bring you back to a particular time in your life and be a vivid memory. I have so many of those memories, listening to Phil Collins on the Lloyd’s radio cassette deck in my brother’s room. Growing up, we used to tape the Top 40 countdown and listen to it all week. Referencing [George Michael] in “Terry Cloth Blue” was a natural thing because those songs for years after made me think of that first crush. It’s nothing groundbreaking--just meaningful to me.

SILY: Everybody knows “Careless Whisper” and has a million different relationships to it.

HD: It has to do with my musical development. When I took saxophone as my instrument in school, I was not interested in notes or theory. The only thing I ended up doing with it was lifting that “Careless Whisper” melody off the radio. It was the only thing I ever played on the saxophone.

SILY: On “On A Beach”, what does the phrase “drinking income taxes” refer to?  It reminds me of that Wilco song “Spiders (Kidsmoke)”, because that, too, refers to taxes and beaches.

HD: That’s Jeff Tweedy using magnetic poetry. I can be accused of that myself. But yeah, it has nothing to do with that. [“On A Beach”] is a weird song because it was one of the few in the last few years where 80% of the lyrics came right when I was playing the bass riff for the first time. Usually, I’ll hum something or sing fake words over whatever chord progression I think is interesting, but on the semi-rare occasion, I start singing something and end up keeping it. That line just came out. If I’m gonna talk about it now, it would just be me trying to figure out why I said it. It kind of made sense after the fact. At the end of the tax year, for how my wife and I file our taxes, we end up making money back, so we’ll go out for dinner or drinks and end up celebrating our tax return. And I actually found out later that the Income Tax is a classic 1940′s cocktail, which I haven’t tried yet. It kind of works out anyway, even though it doesn’t need to.

SILY: What’s in the cocktail?

HD: I looked it up. It didn’t sound so hot. I’m more of a straight scotch whiskey kind of a guy. There was a time when everyone was drinking Aperol Spritzes and Negronis, and I would roll my eyes. It was always some hipster cocktail that everyone said was great. I don’t think they thought it was great.

SILY: The title track and title of the record, and the refrain throughout the song, is a pretty simple and powerful question. What does “Are we good?” mean to you in context of this record, and what about when you say, “Are we good enough?”

HD: Obviously, the multiple meanings that “Are we good?” can have appealed to me when I was thinking about the title. Sometimes, over the last 6 years or so, “Are we good?” was a general question referring to individuals in society, even people we think are doing good things for the world or people that everyone look up to. It was a pretty negative thought.

SILY: It’s definitely provocative in its simplicity.

HD: On a personal level, being in a 20-year relationship with a home life that’s very stressful, a lot of the time, it’s a huge personal question that is asked a lot. It’s a meaningful title for me.

SILY: The first verse of “Window Washer Blues” describes a story where your wife’s job gave her a drone and you played with it and lost it. Is that a true story?

HD: It is true. During the early weeks of the pandemic, everybody was going crazy and there wasn’t much to do. There wasn’t much joy to be had. My wife’s film work started up after two months, and I looked up really quick instructions on how to use the drone. I took it out back in my father-in-law’s house, and it went up in the air and kept going and disappeared. It was a good representation of what was going on at the time.

SILY: Listening to it, and putting myself in that situation, as a songwriter, I would think to myself, “This is a metaphor. This is a signal.”

HD: Yeah. It was both. It happened, and it was a metaphor. Oh boy. I picture it in a field, somewhere, rusting.

SILY: There’s something kind of beautiful about that.

HD: It struck me for sure.

SILY: “Miss Fort Eerie” is a funny song. It breaks the fourth wall towards the end and plays on that rock star life cliché, which I imagine is not your experience on the road.

HD: I’ve lived a very not debaucherous road life, personally. I guess in the 90′s, it could have been, but now, things are very different on the road for the “rock star.”

SILY: What made you want to get in the headspace of the song’s character?

HD: It was something my wife said. I had a habit of downplaying when I went out with my band in 2015 on my last record. I’d be like, “Yeah, we just went back to the hotel and had to get up early.” She said, “Listen, if I’m here with the kids, and you’re out there, you don’t have to make it sound shitty. I want you to be having a nice time when you’re out there.” The song came from that real conversation. I had the habit of saying, “Yeah, it’s not so great,” so she didn’t feel like she was missing stuff.

SILY: Have you toured since the pandemic?

HD: I did a series of solo runs in November this past year.

SILY: How did you find touring had changed since you were last on the road?

HD: It changed for me, and this might sound eyeroll-y, but I felt thankful I was able to do it and that people were showing up and my music still meant something to people. That was my overwhelming feeling. In some ways, I had a better time than I’ve ever had on the road in these little runs. 

SILY: Do you have upcoming tour dates with these songs?

HD: Yeah. I have a few, including my first true headlining show at Massey Hall in Toronto, which I’m very excited about. It’s a bit of a dream come true.

SILY: Are you playing with a band?

HD: I’m just in the process of putting together what I want to do. I did have fun doing these last shows solo. I always feel a great connection with the audience when I’m up there alone. I’m forced to engage, and you get down to the soul of everything. I want there to be an element of solo, but I want to put something special together for it as well.

SILY: On what instrument were these songs written?

HD: I’d say 90% of it was written on piano. Over the last 12-15 years or so, I’ve found the piano to be a more inspiring instrument for writing. 

SILY: Do you find it equally as artistically fulfilling to adapt songs like this, or any song, to a live stage as writing them in the first place?

HD: The pattern for me is that when I start rehearsing new songs with a band, I’m going back to the recordings and hearing the bass line that I haven’t really played since the day I recorded it. It’s always an interesting process and fun for me to dissect songs I haven’t heard the individual instruments for. When we start playing them and they’re coming together, there’s a certain elation for me. Sometimes, I’m sitting in the practice space with a shit-eating grin on my face because I’m happy to hear it come back with real live people playing it at once.

[taylor-on-your-dash]

Midnights Late Nights official credits

THE GREAT WAR

Published by Songs Of Universal, Inc./ Sony/ATV Times LLC

Produced by Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner / Mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios (Virginia Beach, VA) / Assistant Mix Engineer- Bryce Bordone / Recorded by Bella Blasko, Jonathan Low and Aaron Dessner at Long Pond (Hudson Valley, NY) / Additional recording by Thomas Bartlett at The Dwelling (New York, NY) and Kyle Resnick (Buffalo, NY) / Taylor Swift Vocals recorded by Laura Sisk and Jack Antonoff at Rough Customer Studio (Brooklyn, NY) / Orchestration by Bryce Dosanor (Biarritz, FR) / Mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound (Edgewater, NJ)

Taylor Swift - Lead Vocals / Aaron Dessner - Drum Machine Programming, Electric Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion, Piano, Synth Bass and Synths / James McAlister - Drum Machine Programming and Percussion / Thomas Bartlett - Piano and Synths / Yuki Namara Resnick - Violin / Kyle Resnick - Trumpet

BIGGER THAN THE WHOLE SKY

Published by Songs Of Universal, Inc.

Produced by Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift / Mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios (Virginia Beach, VA) / Assistant Mix Engineer - Bryce Bordone / Recorded by Laura Sisk and Jack Antonoff at Electric Lady Studios (New York, NY), Rough Customer Studio (Brooklyn, NY), Conway Recording Studios (Los Angeles, CA), Sharp Sonics Studios (Los Angeles, CA) / Assistant Engineering by Jon Sher, John Rooney, Lauren Marquez, Megan Searl / Mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound (Edgewater, NJ)

Taylor Swift - Lead Vocals / Jack Antonoff - Programming, Bass, Synths, Slide Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitars and Piano

HIGH INFIDELITY

Published by Songs Of Universal, Inc. / Sony/ATV Tunes LLC

Produced by Aaron Dessner and Taylor Swift / Mixed by Jonathan Low at Long Pond (Hudson Valley, NY) / Recorded by Bella Blasko, Jonathan Low and Aaron Dessner at Long Pond (Hudson Valley, NY) / Additional recording by James McAlister (Los Angeles, CA), Thomas Bartlett at The Dwelling (New York, NY) and Benjamin Lanz (Paris, FR) / Taylor Swift vocals recorded by Jonathan Low at Kitty Committee Studio (Los Angeles, CA) / Mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound (Edgewater, NJ)

Taylor Swift - Lead Vocals / Aaron Dessner - Acoustic Guitar, Drum Kit, Drum Machine Programming. Electric Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion. Piano and Synths / James McAlister - Drum Machine Programming, Percussion and Synths / James Krivchenia - Drum Kit / Thomas Bartlett - Synths / Benjamin Lanz - Drums and Trombone

WOULD'VE COULD'VE SHOULD'VE

Published by Songs Of Universal, Inc. / Sony/ATV Tunes LLC

Produced by Aaron Dessner and Taylor Swift / Mixed by Jonathan Low at Long Pond (Hudson Valley, NY) / Recorded by Bella Blasko, Jonathan Low and Aaron Dessner at Long Pond (Hudson Valley, NY) / Additional recording by Justin Vernon at April Base (Fall Creek, WI), James McAlister (Los Angeles, CA) and Thomas Bartlett at The Dwelling (New York, NY) / Taylor Swift vocals recorded by Jonathan Low at Kitty Committee Studio (Los Angeles, CA) / Mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound (Edgewater, NJ)

Taylor Swift - Vocals / Aaron Dessner - Bass Guitar. Drum Machine Programming, Electric Guitar, Harmonica, High Strung Guitar, Piano, Slice and Synths / Justin Vernon -Slice /James McAlister - Drum Kit, Drum Machine Programming and Synths / Bryan Devendorf - Drums / Thomas Bartlett - Keyboard and Synths / Stu Tenold - Slice / Bryce Dessner - Electric Guitars

DEAR READER

Published by Songs Of Universal. Inc. / Sony/ATV Songs LLC

Produced by Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift /Mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios (Virginia Beach, VA) / Assistant Mix Engineer - Bryce Bordone / Recorded by Laura Sisk and Jack Antonoff at Electric Lady Studios (New York, NY), Rough Customer Studio (Brooklyn, NY), Conway Recording Studios (Los Angeles, CA), Sharp Sonics Studios (Los Angeles, CA) / Assistant Engineering by Jon Sher, John Rooney, Lauren Marquez, Megan Searl / Mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound (Edgewater, NJ)

Taylor Swift - Lead Vocals / Jack Antonoff - Programming, Bass, Synths, Electric Guitar and Piano

HITS DIFFERENT

© 2022 TASRM Publishing, administered by Songs of Universal, Inc. (BMI), Ingrid Stella Music, administered by Sony/ATV Tunes LLC (ASCAP),Sony/ATV Songs LLC/Ducky Donath Music (BMI). All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission.

Produced by Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner & Taylor Swift / Mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios (Virginia Beach, VA) / Assistant Mix Engineer - Bryce Bordone / Recorded by Jonathan Low, Aaron Dessner, Laura Sisk and Jack Antonoff / Assistant Engineered by Jon Sher, Megan Searl, Lauren Marquez, John Rooney, Bella Blasko / Recorded at Long Pond (Hudson Valley, NY), Electric Lady Studios (New York, NY), Rough Customer Studio (Brooklyn, NY), Conway Recording Studios (Los Angeles, CA) and Sharp Sonics Studios (Los Angeles, CA) / Sean Hutchinson's performance recorded by Sean Hutchinson at Hutchinson Sound (Brooklyn, NY) / Evan Smith's performance recorded by Evan Smith at Pleasure Hill Recording (Portland, Maine) / Thomas Bartlett's performance recorded by Thomas Bartlett at The Dwelling (New York, NY) / Mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound (Edgewater, NJ)

Taylor Swift - Vocals / Aaron Dessner - Electric Guitar, Prophet X Synth, Electric Guitar 2, Bass Guitar, Yamaha Synth, MS20, Juno Synth / Jack Antonoff - Programming, Percussion, Bass Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Synths and Piano /James McAlister - Drum Kit, Synth Sequencing (Modular) / Evan Smith - Synths / Sean Hutchinson - Drums, Percussion / Thomas Bartlett - Prophet X Synth, OP1

YOU'RE LOSING ME

Published by Songs Of Universal, Inc. / Sony/ATV Songs LLC / Produced by Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift / Mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios (Virginia Beach. VA) / Assistant Mix Engineer - Bryce Bordone / Recorded by Jack Antonoff and Laura Sisk and Oli Jacobs / Assistant Engineering by Jack Manning, Jon Sher, Megan Searl, Remy Dumelz, Daniel Cayotte, Joey Miller. Jozef Caklwell / Mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound (Edgewater, NJ) / Recorded at Rue Boyer (Paris, France), Rough Customer Studio (Brooklyn, NY), Sharp Sonics Studios (Los Angeles, CA), Conway Recording (Los Angeles, CA), Electric Lady Studios (New York, NY)

Jack Antonoff - Cello, Programming, Drums. Percussion, DX100. Juno6, Piano, Wurlitzer, Mellotron, PolySix / Bobby Hawk - Violin / Taylor Swift - Vocals

SNOW ON THE BEACH (MORE LANA)

Published by Songs Of Universal, Inc. /Sony/ATV Songs LLC /Universal Music Corp. Produced by Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift / Mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios (Virginia Beach, VA) / Assistant Mix Engineer - Bryce Bordone / Recorded by Laura Sisk and Jack Antonoff / Assistant Engineered by Megan Searl, Jon Sher, John Rooney, Jacob Spitzer / Bobby Hawk performance recorded by Dave Gross at Blue Plate Records (Hayworth, New Jersey) / Evan Smith performance recorded by Evan Smith at Pleasure Hill Recording (Portland, Maine) / Mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound (Edtiewater, NJ) / Recorded at Rough Customer Studio (Brooklyn, NY), Electric Lady Studios (New York, NY), Henson Recording Studios (Los Angeles, CA)

Taylor Swift - Vocals / Lana Del Rey - Vocals / Jack Antonoff - Drums, Programming, Percussion, Juno 6, Mellotron, Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Bass, Background Vocals / Evan Smith - Synths / Bobby Hawk - Violin / Dylan O'Brien - Drums

KARMA FT ICE SPICE

© 2022 TASRM Publishing, administered by Songs of Universal, Inc. (BMI), Sony/ATVSongs LLC/Ducky Donath Music (BMI), Sony/ATV Allegro/Beat Bully Spears (ASCAP), Keanu Torres (APRA) /Keanu Beats Publishing/Sony/ATVSongs (BMI). Jahaan Akil Sweet. published by The Sweet Life, LLC (BMI), administered by Songs ofKobalt Music Publishing (BMI) Dolo Publishing (BMI). administered by Songs of Universal, Inc. (BMD/Ephrem Lopez Publishing Designee (BMI) administered by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI). All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission.

Produced by Jack Antonoff, Taylor Swift, Sounwave, Keanu Beats / Co-Produced by Jahaan Sweet / Mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios (Virginia Beach, VA) / Assistant Mix Engineer - Bryce Bordone / Recorded by Laura Sisk and Jack Antonoff / Assistant Engineered by Megan Searl, Jon Sher, John Rooney, Mark Aguilar / Sounwave performance recorded by Sounwave at Sound of Waves Studios (Los Angeles, CA) / Jahaan Sweet performance recorded by Jahaan Sweet at The Sweet Spot (Los Angeles, CA) / Keanu Beats performance recorded by Keanu Beats (Melbourne. AU) / Mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound (Edgewater. NJ) / Recorded at Rough Customer Studio (Brooklyn, NY), Electric Lady Studios (New York, NY), Henson Recording Studios (Los Angeles, CA), Conway Studios (Los Angeles, CA)

Taylor Swift - Vocals / Ice Spice - Vocals / Jack Antonoff - Drums, Programming. Percussion, Juno, Omnichord / Sounwave - Programming / Jahaan Sweet - Keys, Pad / Keanu Beats - Synths

Ice Spice appears courtesy of Capitol Records/10k Projects.

[thelightyougavemetoseeyou]

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[musikblog]

MusikBlog präsentiert Mega Bog Wer da? Mega Bog, das Musikprojekt der US-amerikanischen Singer/Songwriterin Erin Birgy aus Idaho. Vor 2009 trat sie auch unter den Namen Little Swamp und Midi Marsh auf. Und was macht die so für ‘nen Sound? Rhytmische Meisterschaft wilder, perkussiven Geist von James Krivchenia (Big Thief), der die Platte mit Birgy koproduzierte, fantasievolle Texturen und schwere […] https://www.musikblog.de/2023/05/musikblog-praesentiert-mega-bog/ #MegaBog #Avantgarde #Experimental #News #SingerSongwriter #SynthPop

[double-croche1]

[INTERVIEW] WESTERMAN

Le britannique Westerman est de retour avec son excellent second album ‘An Inbuilt Fault’, notamment réalisé avec James Krivshenia, le batteur de Big Thief. Nous avons discuté avec l’artiste de la confection de ce disque, de l’air du temps et de son nouveau pays d’adoption, la Grèce.

Est-ce que tu avais des idées précises de ce que tu voulais au début de l’écriture ? Will : Pas vraiment. Je préfère ne pas me mettre trop de règles au début. Les deux seuls principes ont été que je voulais apprendre à plus jouer par moi-même et que ce soit plus organique, même si on a utilisé beaucoup d’ordinateurs pour cet album. Je voulais que le résultat soit plus brut, avec des percussions live. J’avais beaucoup écouté le groupe allemand CAN et ses multiples percussions. Je pense que cela est arrivé un peu en réaction au fait d’être confiné. Je voulais incorporer cela dans l’album. C’étaient les seuls éléments qui guidaient mon esprit.

Est-ce que tu t’es senti plus confiant dans ton écriture par rapport à ton premier album ‘Your Hero Is Not Dead’ (2020) ? Will : Je pense que j’étais surtout moins conscient de ce que je faisais. Cela n’est pas nécessairement en réaction au premier album mais plutôt à la situation des confinements. Je voyais si peu de monde à l’époque que je pensais que personne n’écouterait ces morceaux. L’écriture est d’abord véritablement personnelle pour moi et ensuite j’essaie de faire en sorte qu’elle soit compréhensible pour d’autres personnes. Cette période en isolation était si bizarre. Je ne sais donc pas si cela a à voir avec de la confiance ou un complet manque de relations sociales ! (Rires) En tout cas, cela s’est fait dans un environnement vraiment différent par rapport au premier album.

Comment s’est passé le cheminement de l’écriture à l’enregistrement ? Will : J’avais arrangé la plus grande partie du disque entre janvier et septembre 2021 et ensuite je suis allé voir James Krivchenia [le batteur du groupe Big Thief] qui vit à Los Angeles. On s’était rencontré juste avant que la pandémie ne débute. Je lui avais dit que je voulais travailler avec des percussions live. Je suis allé à Los Angeles pendant un mois en fin 2021 et on a enregistré la plus grande partie du disque en live sur place et puis on a continué à travailler dessus en 2022. Puis il est venu à Londres et on a fini le processus. La plus grande partie de ce qu’on peut entendre vient donc de prises faites à la fin de 2021 et au début de 2022.

Comment tu as rencontré James Krivchenia ? Will : On s’est rencontré au concert du groupe Pottery. Pottery, Big Thief et moi avons le même manager. Pottery jouaient à Londres la veille du concert de Big Thief [le 26 février 2020 pour Pottery et le 27 février 2020 pour Big Thief]. Je suis allé au concert de Pottery au Windmill Brixton. On est sorti avec James pour fumer une cigarette et on a fini par discuter pendant une heure et demi. A vrai dire, j’ai raté la plus grande partie du concert ! On s’est très bien entendu. J’ai beaucoup aimé lui parler, tout a semblé naturel et facile.

Est-ce que tu as pu faire la connaissance des autres membres de Big Thief ? Will : Je les ai rencontrés quelques fois mais je connais James bien mieux que les autres. Ils sont très encourageants entre eux, ils ont une très bonne dynamique de groupe. Ce sont des belles personnes.

Tu as mentionné que tu voulais plus de percussions live. Toutes les parties de batterie ont été jouées par James ? Will : Non, pas toutes. Il y a quatre batteurs sur l’album suivant les morceaux de l’album mais James était le principal percussionniste. James avait notamment fait appel à des batteurs qu’il connaissait. James a donné plus de texture à mes morceaux. Je lui avais envoyé mes démos sur lesquelles j’avais notamment fait les batteries avec des boîte à rythme et il a tout retravaillé en laissant quelques éléments originels.

Sur Give, la première chanson de l’album, les percussions sont étonnantes ! On peut même entrendre du verre qui se casse. Will : J’avais écrit cette articulation irrégulière dans l’identité rythmique. J’avais trouvé un ensemble de percussions sur internet pour faire cela et je ai ensuite incorporé le résultat sur un programme polyrithmique et je l’ai programmé de cette façon. Puis James a retravaillé dessus. Un des percussionites est brésilien, il s’appelle Gibi Dos Santos. Il a joué de façon libre sur la moitié de l’album. James a utilisé une prise de Gibi Dos Santos et il a fait un patchwork de cette prise sur l’identité rythmique que j’avais écrite pour le morceau Give. C’est comme cela que nous avons obtenu pour ce morceau ce contraste avec des textures très organiques et une articulation étrange.

On peut entendre des cordes sur certaines chansons. Comment as-tu travaillé avec le violoniste et les autres musiciens ? Will : Certains de violons sont joués par l’artiste Mat Davidson, qui a un projet qui s’appelle Twain. Mat est un fantastique musicien. J’avais écrit la moitié de ses parties et il a fait l’autre moitié. On a décidé d’enregistrer de façon live. Je trouvais que c’était une façon plus intéressante. Je ne trouvais pas de plaisir créatif à tout écrire et à demander à quelqu’un de jouer parfaitement ce que j’avais écrit. Je demandais donc juste aux musiciens de jouer à partir de ce qu’ils entendaient et d’y mettre leur touche personnelle. James et moi avons ensuite fait le travail de tri entre ce qu’on voulait utiliser et ce qu’on a mis de côté. C’est ce processus qu’on a suivi sur la plupart des chansons.

Quand tu écrivais les chansons, tu avais des thèmes spécifiques que tu voulais explorer ? Will : J’essaie de ne pas trop penser aux intentions en termes de paroles. Quand tu réfléchis trop, l’esprit peut se court-circuiter et créer un filtre ou un blocage. Néanmoins, je pense que plusieurs thèmes se sont dégagés. L’idée de la construction de la liberté est prépondérante, à travers le sentiment de ne pas avoir d’emprise sur elle. Il y a des raisons évidentes pour cela avec les confinements, mais je n’écrivais pas intentionnellement cela. Je suis arrivé à un point où j’ai écrit la chanson titre An Inbuilt Fault. Quand j’ai fini cette chanson, je me suis rendu compte que j’avais un album complet avec de la continuité. A partir de là, j’ai choisi les morceaux qui correspondaient le mieux à cette idée à partir des 20 ou 25 bouts de morceaux que j’avais.

Crédits photo : Siam Coy Qu’est-ce que veut dire ‘An Inbuilt Fault’ ? Will : Je ne veux pas définir nécessairement ce que ça veut dire parce que je pense que cela dessert le propos, mais il y a une lutte avec la notion de cause à effet et ce que cela veut dire dans la façon dont on considère notre liberté. C’est une réflexion autour de cette idée.

Nous aimons beaucoup la chanson Help Didn’t Help at All. Peux-tu nous dire comment tu l’as écrite ? Will : J’ai appris le piano et c’est la première chanson que j’ai écrite avec cet instrument. Apprendre le piano a été une des choses qui m’a permis de ne pas devenir fou pendant les confinements ! Cette chanson est une balade que j’ai écrite au piano. Cela a débloqué pour moi une nouveau mode d’écriture par rapport à la façon dont j’écris d’habitude à la guitare. Pour cette chanson, j’avais une image en tête que je m’asseyais sur la lune. Cette chanson m’a rendu heureux et j’ai voulu la mettre sur l’album.

La chanson CSI: Petralona est le deuxième single de l’album. Que signifie le nom de ce morceau ? Will : Petralona est un quartier d’Athènes en Grèce, où je vis. Et les trois premiers mots de la chanson sont « Close shave in ». ‘CSI’ est une abbréviation de ces trois mots ! Je trouvais cela drôle. Donner des titres aux chansons est difficile pour moi donc j’utilise parfois cela comme une blague. (Rires)

Tu es maintenant installé à Athènes. Est-ce que tu trouves que cette ville a eu une influence particulière sur l’album ? Will : Je ne pense pas parce que j’avais quasiment fini l’album avant que j’emménage ici. J’ai écrit la plus grande partie du disque en confinement et à l’époque, je voulais déjà partir à Athènes, donc je pense que le sentiment de vouloir prendre le contrôle et faire bouger les choses a influencé le cours du disque. Je ne pense donc pas que la ville elle-même a influencé cette collection de chansons mais plutôt le souhait de prendre les choses en main.

Crédits photo : Siam Coy

Le dossier de presse mentionne les films ‘Le Septième Sceau’ d’Ingmar Bergman (1957) et ‘Vivre’ d’Akira Kurosawa (1952). Tu peux nous expliquer pourquoi ? Will : J’ai regardé beaucoup de films durant cette période parce qu’on ne pouvait pas faire grand-chose d’autre ! Ce sont deux classiques que je n’avais pas vus. ‘Le Septième Sceau’ d’Ingmar Bergman (1957) en particulier a eu un grand impact sur moi. C’est une décision bizarre de regarder ce film au milieu d’une pandémie. (Rires) Ce film a beaucoup occupé mes rêves. J’avais commencé à le regarder avec mon père et il a arrêté en plein milieu ! Il y a un lien évident entre l’histoire et ce qui se passait dans le monde, mais j’ai aimé le combat intérieur du protagoniste principal de chercher le positif dans cette situation qui n’est pas nécessairement bonne. C’est quelque chose qui m’a beaucoup préoccupé. Selon moi, la musique la plus puissante que j’ai écrite a souvent été une réponse à une chose négative. C’est cette réponse qui est importante. Le film finit mal mais le combat du protagoniste principal est très beau. Après ce qui s’était passé autour du premier album, pendant longtemps, je pensais que je ne voulais plus écrire quoi que ce soit. Puis j’ai voulu répondre à ce que je ressentais et ces deux films sont passés par mon esprit. Comme je l’ai dit, je n’essaie pas d’utiliser consciemment des choses comme bases. J’ai souvent du mal à parler de ma façon d’appréhender la musique : ce n’est pas pour paraître mystérieux, c’est juste que je ne comprends pas vraiment moi-même. J’ai pensé néanmoins qu’il était pertinent de dire que ces deux films ont fait leur chemin dans l’album d’une certaine façon.

Sur le nouvel album, la dernière chanson s’appelle Pilot Was A Dancer. Les paroles pourraient ressembler à un film de science-fiction avec le dernier survivant sur la planète. Est-ce que tu avais des films de science-fiction précis en tête ? Will : Je trouve que cette chanson a un lien de frère et sœur avec Help Didn’t Help At All dont on a parlé. Je voyais cette personne dans un environnement de lunaire. Je voulais m’imaginer ce qui passerait dans la tête d’une personne se croyant la dernière personne en vie.

C’est aussi une chanson très rock, surtout dans sa dernière partie. Comment as-tu pensé à finir le disque comme cela ? Will : Aussi bien avec le début que la fin, j’ai voulu avoir quelque chose qui puisse être ressenti comme une grande libération. J’ai ainsi laissé les musiciens se lâcher. Il y a de la catharsis. Je n’avais jamais fait ce genre de chose par le passé et c’était excitant !

Quels ont été les films que tu as vus récemment ? Will : J’ai revu ‘Barry Lindon’ de Stanley Kubrick (1975). J’ai eu cette idée de faire un concert avec des versions alternatives des morceaux de mon premier album, éclairé à la bougie. Je pense que c’est mon film préféré de Stanley Kubrick. J’ai aussi vu un très bon film grec qui s’appelle ‘Digger’ [de Georgis Grigorakis, 2020]. Cela parle d’un ermite dans les bois. Quand on parle de la Grèce, beaucoup de gens pensent directement aux îles grecques, les batîments blancs, le ciel bleu et des rochers, mais la plus grande partie de la Grèce est en fait composée de forêts, surtout dans la Grèce du Nord, que j’aime beaucoup. On peut y voir des forêts de type tropical. Ma mère vit au Pays de Galles maintenant et ces forêts me rappellent ce lieu.

Es-tu prêt à rejouer des concerts ? Will : On a une tournée d’un mois prévue aux États-Unis et on devrait jouer en Europe en automne. J’ai hâte de jouer ces nouvelles chansons. Je pense qu’elles laissent plus d’espace à l’expression sur scène. J’aurai un groupe un petit peu différent, avec notamment un batteur. J’ai encore un petit peu de travail devant moi ! Crédits photo de couverture : Siam Coy Le nouvel album ‘An Inbuilt Fault’ de Westerman est maintenant disponible et hautement recommandé ! L’artiste se produira le samedi 28 octobre à la Boule Noire. Evénement : https://bit.ly/3HP9Sbz Billetterie : https://bit.ly/3LKb8xI A&B

[the--magic-never-stopped]

Big Thief 5/13/22 - The Observatory North Park

[yesnowhatno]

Fucking Christ this song is so powerful

[tri-ciclo]

she was a shark smile in a yellow van she came around and i stole her glance in my youth, a vampire evelyn shown quiet as roses sting
 it came over me at a bad time, but who wouldn’t ride on a moonlight line? i had her in my eye, 85 down the road of a dead end gleam
 she said woo baby take me i said woo baby take me too
 it came over her at a bad time, riding through Winona down the dotted line she held us, gunning out 90 miles down the road of a dead end dream she looked over with her part smile, caught up in the twinkle it could take awhile and the money pile on the dashboard, fluttering
 as she said woo baby take me i said woo baby take me too
 evelyn’s kiss was oxygen, i leaned over to take it in as we went howling through the edge of south des moines it came over me at a bad time, she burned over the double line and she impaled as i reached my hand for the guard rail, the guard rail, the guard rail 
 she said woo baby, take me i said woo baby take me too

[rairun]

lol

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 8, Number 4

OHYUNG

Is this normal? After two years of upheaval, the world seems to finding equilibrium again, at least if you squint to avoid looking too hard at what’s going on in Ukraine. So we’re going out again on the regular, wearing masks (and you should, too), but otherwise like always, and oh my, are a lot of bands out on the road these days. A lot of them are putting out records, too, and as usual, we make an attempt to catch up with Dust, our monthly collection of short reviews. Read here for our take on country covers and Italian punk, crusty black metal and cosmic metal, improvisatory collaborations and fresh interpretations of music from farflung cultures. Contributors this time included Tim Clarke, Justin Cober-Lake, Jonathan Shaw, Bryon Hayes, Bill Meyer, Jennifer Kelly and Chris Liberato.

Caleb Dailey — Warm Evenings, Pale Mornings: Beside You Then (Alien Transistor / Moone)

Warm Evenings, Pale Mornings: Beside You Then by Caleb Dailey

Moone Records boss Caleb Dailey worked on this collection of covers of old country songs with some notable musicians, including Deerhoof’s John Dieterich, Nicholas Krgovich, and Kyle Field (Little Wings). At eight tracks clocking in at just over half an hour, it’s a short and lovingly rendered collection that rambles charmingly, featuring songs originally written by a range of country-rock luminaries, including Gram Parsons, Gordon Lightfoot and Blaze Foley. Even if you’re not familiar with the originals, all the songs sound appropriately well-worn and comforting, giving the listener space and reassurance to nestle in their melancholy. Dailey keeps things at a woozy, syrup-thick tempo, his low voice sounding like a 45rpm record accidentally played at 33 1/3. Though the songs unfurl slowly and simply, there’s plenty of space to weave hypnotic details into the mix. Early standout “Brass Buttons” swirls with lap steel, banjo and harmonium behind Dailey’s lackadaisically strummed acoustic guitar. “Dreaming My Dreams With You” features sparkling vibraphone over thick beds of organ and bass, and “If You Could Read My Mind” pulses with distant cosmic synths. Then, on closer “If I Could Only Fly,” featuring plaintive lead vocals from The Notwist’s Markus Acher, the album achieves lift-off amid a storm cloud of distortion, followed by a restatement of the song’s theme on piano by Dailey’s mum. Lovely.

Tim Clarke

 Deaf Lingo — Lingonberry (Lövely)

Italy's Deaf Lingo returns for their second album with as much energy as ever. The punk rockers add some increased melodicism to Lingonberry compared to their initial releases, but they haven't slowed anything down. After a heavier intro, single “Push It” has drifts toward skate punk as vocalist Sandro Specchia rants in favor of laziness. The track's irony lies not just in its decidedly not-lazy tempo, but also in its resistance. While the cut might ostensibly be about doing nothing, it considers that inaction as a form of resistance. Much of the album follows in this line, pairing a few different punk and alt-rock styles with concerns about disaffection or alienation. The group sounds its best when it leans into its poppier influences, but it would benefit — especially on its brighter tunes — from more separation in its production. The sound gets just a little muddier than suits the songs. Even so, Deaf Lingo feels like a band on its way up, catching its songwriting groove and finding its way with growing assurance.

Justin Cober-Lake 

 Feral Light — Psychic Contortions (I, Voidhanger)

Psychic Contortions by FERAL LIGHT

At its best, Feral Light’s new LP Psychic Contortions recalls the tuneful, crusty black metal of that terrific demo from Loss of Self that circulated about a decade ago, or the most blackened and melodic moments in Nux Vomica’s epic crust anthems. All of which suggests — accurately so — that Feral Light isn’t writing or playing anything particularly ground-breaking on this record, but the Minneapolis-based duo does this sort of thing quite well. See “Wells of Blackness,” which may have a title that’s just a little bit on the nose; it also has a riff with just enough roil, and crusty production that coats the music with just enough grime. The band has been kicking around since 2015, and Psychic Contortions is by far the best record they’ve released. “Self Disavow” might be the band’s best song, yearning and crunching in equal measure, and given over to intemperate spells of blasting intensity. If you like some blackened ash in your crust, give this a spin.

Jonathan Shaw

 High Alpine Hut Network — 727/16 (Ansible Editions)

727 / 16 by High Alpine Hut Network

The Toronto-based Idée Fixe imprint has spun off a sister label. With a name originating in science fiction, Ansible Editions is true to its mission to explore the jazz cosmos and adjacent sonic galaxies. The imprint launched with an introductory batch of three editions, and this pair of tracks from High Alpine Hut Network is certainly the most cosmic of the lot. Comprising multi-instrumentalists Christopher Shannon, Benjamin Pullia and Jason Bhattacharya, this trio explores the intersection of Berlin school kosmische, deep house and jazz-infected hard funk. For this, their debut effort, HAHN enlisted the help of friends. The collaborative roster includes pianist Robin Hatch, Tobin Hopwood on guitar, percussionists Lauren Runions and Nathan Vanderwielen and the lush reeds of Joseph Shabason. “727” is a voyage that originates in the cosmos before strutting into electric Miles territory and eventually landing in the club. The snaky “16” is a bass-forward affair, bolstered by Hopwood’s limber guitar exorcisms and a propulsive percussive pulse. Overall HAHN keeps it exciting and extraterrestrial, a winning combination.

Bryon Hayes 

 Instruments Of Happiness — Slow, Quiet Music In Search Of Electric Happiness (Redshift)

Slow, Quiet Music in Search of Electric Happiness by Instruments of Happiness

Sometimes, the times catch up with you. Tim Brady of Montreal has been working with guitar ensembles of carrying sizes for nearly forty years, culminating in a production in 2014 entitled, Instruments of Happiness — 100 Guitares Électriques. Four years on, he had an economizing notion: why not put four guitarists in a large, reverberant space, and let the room do some of the work? Brady and three other guitarists — Jonathan Barriault, Simon Duchesne, and Francis Brunet-Tucotte — presented the first performance of this four-piece sequence of roughly quarter hour-long, commissioned pieces in a Montreal church in February, 2020. Obviously, follow-up performances were not an immediate option, but what better year than 2020 to record a small number of spread-out musicians? It’s kind of a shame that the music couldn’t be made immediately available, because folks enduring cabin fever might have found comfort in the quartet’s evocations of expansiveness. E-bow elongations and a seven-second digital delay, which duplicates the original space’s echo, impart a sonic experience that corresponds to the album cover image of the eventual meeting of ocean and cloud cover.

Bill Meyer

Interesting Hobbies Club — Spring Cleaning (Self-Released)

Spring Cleaning by Interesting Hobbies Club

It's not entirely clear what would qualify as an interesting hobby, but I’m guessing that day drinking, buying too many records on Bandcamp Friday and jogging the occasional 5K would not. Perhaps forming a florid, emotionally stirring indie rock band would make the cut, perhaps not, but these four LA musicians have been at it, regardless, for two albums now. And why not? Their second, Spring Cleaning (the first was recorded as Zero Degree), spins in indolent circles, a slow rock jangle lit up by the near-operatic tenor of front person Jules Caspole, who swoops and wails and roars in a volatile, vibrato-laced timbre. The songs this time are tinged with reminiscence, the best “One Year Ago Today,” a country-rocking lament for the girl that got away. Caspole sings ruefully of finding an old photograph of a live-in lover, prompting memories of domestic pleasures: cooking together, planting a garden, dancing in the backyard. The band twangs and rollicks in two-stepping time, and the whole thing puts a gloss on ordinary life that seems a little brighter, a little more meaningful than it usually is. “Middle of the 110” likewise throws a bolt of electricity into an indie rock shuffle, letting concentrated feeling lift it out of the ordinary.

Jennifer Kelly

 Kostnatení — Ohen Horí Tam, Kde Padl (Mystíkaos)

Oheň hoří tam, kde padl by Kostnatění

We are told that D. Lyons, sole member of Kostnatení, has created this record by adapting traditional Turkish folk songs for dissonant, lush and very effective black metal arrangements. Knowing nothing about Turkish folk music, this reviewer cannot comment on the veracity of the claim, nor can he opine on the nature of the tribute or obscenity these musical renditions have brought into the world. But taken on its face, this is a terrific record. The playing is supple and forceful, the tunes are weirding earworms, the sensibility and scale of things somehow mystical and grand. To be sure, there’s something interesting, if perverse, about using black metal to interpret the folk traditions of a nation that has experienced such volatile relations to religious faith — to say nothing of black metal’s more customary deployments by seriously pale dudes with even more serious investments in the lore of northern whiteness (Viking metal, anyone?). This, by marked contrast, is the black metal of the Global South, played by a guy last located by the internet in Tennessee. Say what? Beats me. Play the music.

Jonathan Shaw

 James Krivchenia — Blood Karaoke (Reading Group)

Blood Karaoke by James Krivchenia

Though you can hear clear links between the music of Big Thief and recent solo albums by frontwoman Adrianne Lenker and guitarist Buck Meek, drummer and producer James Krivchenia’s solo music is another matter altogether. Like having dozens of internet browser tabs open at once and switching randomly between them to sample whatever music might happen to be playing at the time, Blood Karaoke is a disorientating, bewildering and occasionally very funny listen. The easiest comparison is probably Oneohtrix Point Never, as the sounds of experimental electronica, vaporwave, and nu-metal collide, occasionally derailed by daft passages of yacht rock, smooth jazz or easy listening. It’s all very cleverly put together and can, at times, introduce moments of unexpected beauty and tenderness. However, as a front-to-back listening experience, it’s likely to leave you feeling a little frazzled and insane.

Tim Clarke

Nyles Lannon — Pressure (Badman)

PRESSURE by Nyles Lannon

Nyles Lannon played with Film School in the early aughts and has made several highly regarded solo albums, including Chemical Friends, named best folktronica album of 2004 by SF Weekly. Pressure was originally released in 2007; here Badman celebrates its 15th birthday with an expanded, remastered version with the tracks remixed to Lannon’s specifications (he never liked the original version). Not having heard Pressure the first time around, it’s hard to say how much the alterations helped, but this is a very good album of mostly acoustic indie folk-pop. Lannon’s voice is high and gentle, not too different from Elliott Smith, the mood bittersweet and the guitar/electronic accompaniments unassumingly pretty. “Better with Nothing” eddies and swirls around a melancholic melody, its pace quickened by scratchy, shaken percussion, its contours defined by bright, lucid guitar lines. A little bell rattles at the bridge as fuzz guitars spin off into psychedelic inquiry, the drama flares, then Lannon pulls it all back into the kind of tune you sing to yourself on rainy days just because.

Jennifer Kelly

 OHYUNG — imagine naked! (NNA Tapes)

imagine naked! by OHYUNG

Asian-American artist OHYUNG generously presents the receptive listener with nearly two hours of sparse, reflective ambient music on imagine naked! Mostly conceived and created across a single 72-hour period, the album is book-ended by 15-minute opener “my torn cuticles!” and 37-minute closer “releases like gloves!” Based on its duration alone, the album does feel like quite a commitment. However, step inside these welcoming musical environments and feel time slip away as the album’s unifying aesthetic becomes cumulatively transportive. Occasionally there are hints of Aphex Twin’s early records (“to fill the quiet!”), Satie’s minimal piano works (“yes my weeping frame!”), and Eno’s process-based experiments, such as Discreet Music. The album certainly fits Eno’s specification that ambient be “as ignorable as it is interesting” — play imagine naked! in the background, and let it gently color your mood, or don some headphones, listen closely, and become lulled by the music’s hypnotic repetition and deeply grained textures.

Tim Clarke

 Sote — Majestic Noise Made in Beautiful Rotten Iran (Sub Rosa)

Majestic Noise Made in Beautiful Rotten Iran by Sote

Iranian producer Ata Ebtekar composes in two different modalities. His electroacoustic constructions incorporate sounds from the traditional instruments of his homeland. Alternatively, he eschews acoustic instrumentation to focus on electronic synthesis itself. Majestic Noise Made in Beautiful Rotten Iran falls into the latter category, although the sheer physicality of the music belies its purely electronic origins. Mined from the same vein as 2020’s MOSCELS, this album is full of highly visceral, almost aggressive sounds modeled in clouds of electrons. Opener “Forced Absence” features the assault of machine gun percussion and collapsing clockwork mechanisms on unsuspecting string arpeggios that resemble harp strums. The urgent, almost video game-like rhythm of “I’m Trying But I Can’t Reach You Father” appears to originate from an orchestra of baroque instruments. That track’s successor, the gentle yet emotional “Life,” emulates a string quartet robbed of all its bows. Majestic Noise Made in Beautiful Rotten Iran is Ebtekar’s most personal collection of material thus far. He’s asking us to endure both the majesty and the noise that lie at its core. This is a challenge that’s worth accepting.

Bryon Hayes

The Web of Lies — Nude with Demon (Wrong Speed)

Nude With Demon by The Web of Lies

For better — and, in one instance, for worse — on Nude with Demon, Edwin Stevens and Neil Robinson pull moves that you don’t quite expect them to pull. The Scottish duo let their garage groove swing like a pendulum on “Receiver,” summoning the spirits of LAMPS and A-Frames, but they gussy the sound up with sly, folk-rock half-licks. Now we know what that sounds like, you’ll catch yourself thinking, and you’ll be damned: it works. As does “Yeah Yeah Yeah,” which chugs along like Spacemen 3 towards a tunnel through which it doesn’t quite fit. When someone finally yanks the emergency brake, it’s already much, much too late, and the track scratches, scrapes and squeals towards a comically slow halt lasting a full couple of minutes. It’s not the metaphorical train driver I want to go back in time and shake awake, then, given the chance; it’s whoever voted the throwaway “Best Friend” onto the album’s track list. Batting in the cleanup spot, the otherwise innocuous Silver Apples-style ditty stops the record’s momentum dead in its, ahem, tracks, as one bestie answers the other’s mumbled monotone call by repeating the title phrase, ad nauseam, in a cartoonish car horn voice that’s frankly exhausting. Luckily, the one tune is not enough to derail the album as a whole, which nonetheless has the potential to become a favorite of the year, for those who like to smile and nod along to the sounds of loud, off-kilter guitars and humans doing their thing.

Chris Liberato 

 Wet Tuna — Warping All by Yourself (Three-Lobed)

Warping All By Yourself by Wet Tuna

Matt Valentine’s space grooves take on more of an organic texture in Warping All by Yourself, at least compared to the wigged-out electronics of 2019’s Water Weird. “Raw Food” arises out of the sound of waves, then shuffles off in a twilight meadow hum, electric guitars sparking wild sprays of sonic color into a lulling haze. “Ain’t No Turning Back,” is funkier, faster and more playful, a bit of Zappa in its out there zings and blurts and pulses, a touch of Royal Trux in its nodding, dissolving choruses. “Sweet Chump Change,” bumps and rolls like a 1970s jazz-funk-fusion epic transported somehow to the fertile hollows of rural New England. Everything spirals in a dizzying, cosmic way, but nothing rushes. You could be here all week without moving. Valentine works mostly alone, bringing in acid folk compatriots like Samara Lubelski, Mick Flower, Doc Dunn and (his partner) Erika Elder for communal touches, but essentially following his own spirit through classic rock, soul, kosmiche music and funk. The whole experience seems like one of those changling folk tales, where if you eat the food, even a little bit, you’ll stay in the enchanted woods forever.

Jennifer Kelly

 Joe Williamson / Dennis Egberth — The Great Escape Plan (Tilting Converter)

Joe Williamson Dennis Egberth - The Great Escape Plan by Joe Williamson Dennis Egberth

When escape is the plan, it behooves the planner to avoid notice. This runs counter to the motivation for many musicians, which is to make sure that the audience’s neck and ears are craned in their direction. The tension between this intentions is the crux of encounter between two Stockholm-based musicians, percussionist Dennis Egberth and double bassist Joe Williamson. It is a studio recording, so the players’ needs for attention had to be met by each other. Their readiness to listen is evident though-out the album’s two vinyl-sized sections (titled, appropriately, “Plan A” and “Plan B”), and it contributes to the complementarity of these performances. Each muted cymbal tap, sizzling brush strike, thwack of the bass’ body or rustle of its bow is the punctuating gesture that completes what the other man plays. Hints of melody and rhythm arise discretely from constellations of mutating sound, like departing parties sticking their heads up to see if the coast is clear.

Bill Meyer

  Eri Yamamoto, Chad Fowler, William Parker, Steve Hirsh — Sparks (Mahakala)

Sparks by Eri Yamamoto, Chad Fowler, William Parker, Steve Hirsh

These four musicians had never played all together before, and they made no plans about where their collaboration would go or what it would sound like once they convened in a room, post-COVID, in New York City. Yamamoto, the classically trained pianist steeped in improvisatory jazz, had worked with bassist Willam Parker before. Chad Fowler, the reedist and proprietor of Mahakala records, has played in a variety of configurations with drummer Steve Hirsh. They call what they’re doing “improvised folk music,” but, really, it’s four skilled practitioners listening hard, finding synchonicity, then careening away from that accord into a wholly new set of considerations. It’s a wild ride, sometimes pensive and beautiful, with sweet, well-considered piano chords framed by bowed and plucked bass reverberations, sometimes turbulent and quick, drums kicking up furious eddies of swirling dust, saxello blowing wildly over the top. None of these principals are averse to finding the still, beautiful center, in long haunting sax tones or vibrating throbs of bass, but nor are they afraid to catch the exhilarating edge of chaos, hammering, squealing, thumping, pounding to stay on top of the wave. How beautiful is it then, when Yamamoto’s clear liquid runs of piano tumble over the rough tumult of Hirsh’s skittering, striated layers of percussion in “Taiko” or when Fowler’s saxophone swaggers across a punch-drunk melody in “Sparks,” peeling back a pristine tone to see what’s raw and ugly underneath. Sparks fly, indeed.

Jennifer Kelly

 Young Guv — Guv III (Run for Cover)

GUV III by Young Guv

Radiant power pop a la Teenage Fanclub, Guv III careens in trebly sweet tunefulness over spiked and raucous guitar work. Guv proprietor Ben Cook wrote this first of two COVID-era albums in the New Mexican desert, surrounded by stunning natural beauty. Yet the songs burst like Sour Patch candies with acid-sweetness. Guitars slash with New Wave swagger in “It’s Only Dancing” and pace with coiled Nick Lowe-ish tension in “Only Want to See U tonight,” as giddy pop vocals swirl and eddy around their contours. I’ve been listening to Matthew Sweet’s Girlfriend lately for no reason whatsoever, and this is in the same power pop family, soft and hard, yearning and joyful at the same time.

Jennifer Kelly

[sinceileftyoublog]

Big Thief Album Review: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You

(4AD)

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Let’s get one thing out of the way: Big Thief’s fifth album was destined for instant lore the moment its context was revealed. Recorded in 4 different locations with 4 different engineers over 5 months! A session that yielded 45 songs! Distilled down to 20! For a band whose past albums were certainly cosmic in theme but not necessarily in sheer scope, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You is, on paper, ambitious. But the concept of ambition has a certain connotation of unattainability; while Dragon is certainly long and covers a lot of ground, it’s remarkably, yet expectedly held together by warmth, togetherness, and the poetic mind of Adrianne Lenker. Big Thief always had this in them.

In my mind, one key choice gives Dragon cohesion: The songs from the different recording sessions are mixed together. Sure, for a short while, the middle of the album lulls to mood pieces, but the album’s overall diversity of sound from song to song puts it on par with an indie rock epic like The Lonesome Crowded West. The entire album was produced by drummer James Krivchenia, who imbues the songs with a dreamlike timbre. And of course, there’s Lenker, who can conjure feelings of hope and connection with simple words just as easily as with complex rhyme schemes. “Change, like the wind / Like the water, like skin,” she sings on the album opener “Change”, with Buck Meek and Krivchenia’s backing vocals and the tremolo twang of Meek’s electric guitar guiding her. In contrast, the immediate, messy instrumentation of “Time Escaping” allows her to sing with more urgency than ever, rhyming “energy” with “eternally” and “entropy”, a headiness that’s nonetheless clear in intention. (The song’s homespun feel, combined with the fact that Lenker is recorded talking to her wandering dog, is reminiscent of Fetch the Bolt Cutters.) That the album opens with these two tracks is telling for the listener of what to expect, an all-encompassing embrace.

Even in singing about or inspired by her experiences, Lenker has a knack for dissecting the origins of humanity at large with the stroke of her pen. On the existential title track, she conjures the Big Bang, her whooshing vocals atop cascading piano and pedal steel from Twain’s Mat Davidson, the honorary 5th member of Big Thief for part of Dragon. On the Biblical “Sparrow”, she tells of the story of Adam and Eve and the fall of man in a layered vibrato, tragic, yet gorgeous. And on what she originally thought was a throwaway tune, Lenker delivers some of her shrewdest observations ever. “Spud Infinity” will go down as the jaw harp-laden song that rhymes “finish” with “potato knish”, nonetheless so heavy hitting it made Krivchenia cry when he first heard it. “Ash to ask and dust to dusk / A dime a dozen, aren’t we just? / But a dozen dimes will buy a crust of garlic bread,” Lenker sings. In other words, we may feel like we’re not unique, or at worst, insignificant, on our own. But together, we can do something special. Appropriately, Big Thief ends the tune with a minute-long barn jam.

In essence, throughout Dragon, Big Thief showcase that, for lack of better words, there’s just something special about being in a band. “Little Things” is one of a few straight up shoegaze pop tunes on the album, and its sonic heights, buoyed by handclaps, buzzing electric guitar, and tambourines, are breathtaking. Krivchenia effortlessly adds drum machine into the band’s otherwise acoustic aesthetic on “Heavy Bend” and “Wake Me Up to Drive”, experiments that sound like they’re playing on a road trip to the future. Standout “No Reason” is Big Thief’s “Get Together”, featuring Carole King collaborator Richard Hardy on flute. “There is no reason to believe / No reason at all / Come together for a moment,” Lenker sings. The sentiment is far from nihilism; Lenker argues that belief, especially based in rationality, is not the end-all-be-all. Just being, especially with others, can catapult us into the heavens. Or, as she sings on “The Only Place”, “The only place that matters is by your side.”

On “Change”, Lenker begins Dragon by asking, “Would you live forever, never die?” Anyone who has ever had an existential crisis, afraid of what the human race will think of them when they die, has pondered the question in avoidance of their own impact. On closer “Blue Lightning”, she’s much more at ease, singing, “I wanna live forever ‘til I die.” Following her own advice in “No Reason”, Lenker throws logic in the trash with a statement that’s a semantic oxymoron but truly aware and empathetic. Notions of forever, of time, are subjective, based in people’s individual experiences. Big Thief believe in themselves, in others, and in you.

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Big Thief - No Reason (Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, 2022)

Official Audio / https://bigthief.net / https://4ad.com/

Taken from forthcoming album 'Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You', out Feb 11th via 4AD. Pre-save/pre-order the album here: https://bigthief.ffm.to/dnwmibiy