We’re huge fans of Joshua Britton’s Psalmships output (I Sleep Alone was one of my favourite albums of last year) and therefore very excited to hear that he has recently put together Old Waves Pt. 2. An assortment of B-sides, demos, out-of-print songs and live recordings, this is a collection of so-called oddities and rarities which most artists would be proud to put out as a full release. Indeed, the nature of the release actually works in it’s favour: Psalmships’s music is always honest and intense, so slightly rough recordings and live performances just makes things seem even more stark and sincere.
If you’re not familiar with past Psalmships releases, you probably want some kind of idea of what sort of music we’re talking about. Well, in my review of I Sleep Alone I wrote this (and stand by it):
[The album is] beautifully human, sounding simultaneously hushed and impassioned, delicate and raw. The negative space that intersperses each guitar note has an emotional heft, an almost tangible substance that snakes around like fog. The lyrics are superb, and the whole thing has a depth that requires repeated listens to even begin to appreciate. It’s a bona fide “slowcoustic” album, with parallels to all of the modern greats (Molina, Tillman, Jurado et al.).
That should give you some idea of the tone of the music, certainly on the gloomier side of the spectrum – but all the best songs are sad songs right? And I can’t think of many contemporary songwriters who do sad as well as Britton. ‘Demise’ takes this to its limits, with lyrics such as, “I’ve been dead since you have left, but it’s not the beautiful death, where you run out of breath and slip beneath the grass. It’s the worst kind of demise and it’s left me paralysed, though i tried i tried, to wait for it to pass”. However, hushed sadness is not Psalmship’s sole strength. His music also displays a sense of self confidence, not in an arrogant sense but a simple defiance against the things that have hurt him. See for example his repetition on ‘Apocryphal Babe’ of the line, “Who cares if I can’t get over all the things that have fucked me up?”
The release also contains several instrumental interludes, such as ‘Western Mountains’ (which is as poppy a track I’ve ever heard from the band) and ‘Ocean Floor’ which sounds like giant soft-bodied sea creatures pulsing through the murk, or the crushing water pressure thumping blood through your ears like syrup.
This is not music to get a party started (although maybe I’d go to more parties if it was), but it is the genuine artistic expression of one man (with help from lots of talented friends), an exploration of loneliness and personal anxiety which speaks to the listener in a very important way. It seems somewhat paradoxical that an album which deals heavily with sadness and loneliness can actually have the opposite effect on the listener, doing something only really good art (of any kind) can. It shows that even if you do feel sad and lonely then you’re not the only person feeling that way, beaming an all important message which says “YOU ARE NOT ALONE”.
You can buy Old Waves Pt. 2 on cassette via Hope For The Tape Deck, or as a digital download from the Psalmships or Hope For The Tape Deck Bandcamp pages.