After a stint playing guitar for Titus Andronicus, Liam Betson, better known as lo-fi act Liam The Younger, has revealed The Cover of Hunter, his first solo album since 2010’s Revel Hidden Words.
Enlisteing the help of people like Julian Lynch and Patrick Stickles, Betson creates a sound that is halfway between a garage rock band, and the sort of alt-folk that Nana Grizol and Defiance, Ohio peddle. His lyrics are often abstract and poetic, but delivered with a satisfying flow that brings to mind the experimental writing of people like William Gaddis or Evan Dara. It really is good stuff. For example on ‘Pocket Knife’ he sings:
“Sometimes nothing feels possible,
just vague and emptied out.
Propped up like a doll
with hands over my mouth
until night beautifully
replaces my vocal cords
with those of a gigantic gray
crumbling concrete monolith
and the filthy gutter water drips
and the make up smeared close-up pix
of a dungeon-dwelling glitterbest bitch
endlessly wheat pasted to the bricks.”
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…and on ‘The Primordial Will’:
“But I will see it through, I will curse and rue,I will joke about it too just to confound and confuse—
There’s nothing wrong with you.And I am smart enough to admit that.
I will not stop understanding that.
I will bow before that.
I will get drunk knowing that.
I will not feel bad.
I will offer my hand.
I haven’t been and will continue
to refrain from sobbing in my bed.”
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The album comes with a quote from Paganel on the ‘Portrait of Saint-Just,’ for those of you whole like to delve too deep into rock songs.
“He is of medium height, healthy, is well proportioned. His hair is thick. His eyes are full of contempt. He has regular features. The expression on his face is severe, his voice powerful, yet muted. His whole being is over-shadowed by fright. His manner displays an extreme cold. Suspicious, sneaky, dark, naturally he knows how to appear impenetrable and retain his secret.”
You can pre-order the LP from Double Double Whammy here, and be sure to check out the Liam The Younger back catalogue on Bandcamp.