Over the course of 2017, Maryland’s Covelline Blue gifted us two releases, falling from the mouth of their Bandcamp project, normal state. The first, starting off the year in January, was cloudy, like your head. The second closed the year off with its release on December 22nd. This one was flowing; this is what we’re here to talk about.
“Trees where you can leave your worries”
cloudy, like your head hands us a guitar and a clear voice. You’re given what you get: some soft spoken yellow flowers and a love story amongst cactus guts. It’s the pulled back version of normal state that listeners have learnt to know and understand over the last few years of Bandcamp demos. flowing, on the other hand, is an entirely different experience. The same guitar is still present; the voice we all know and love continues to drop in to give reassurance. But amongst these familiarities are synth lines we’ve never heard; accompanied by a drum machine cut with confidence. In ‘summertime’, the voice we know is broken apart. The smallest of sounds are disjointed, and yet somehow, still feel flowing—rolling through loblolly pine trees and spreading themselves out widely.
[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=3069896880 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=831841652]
In some songs, normal state lets these synth lines take the lead entirely; letting them ride over all else. Words become hard to hear, and it almost feels like we’re being asked to look back to the title of the track to find some grounding there, instead. “today I was a human being,” Blue sings, “today, I went outside. I watched the other human beings teach themselves to fly.” As listeners, this gives us permission to read along however we like. The songs become small soundtracks to the words we can make out; the lyrics we can interpret.
“I flick my lucky cigarette
one for me, and one for you”
2017 may have begun cloudy, like our heads. But the year closed in a way that allowed us to flow through into the next. It may already be March; we might be starting off slow. But normal state will remind you that it’s okay to take your time in this new year. As loud or as quiet things may be, you’re a human being. If all you do today is go outside and watch other human beings teach themselves to fly, that’s more than fine. flowing is your reminder.
flowing is out now and you can get it from the normal state Bandcamp page.