museum food court is a pretty mysterious project out of Philadelphia, one of those little gems you stumble across if you spend enough time on Bandcamp. Their only current release to date is the two-song EP parchment paper, which came out last month, so it’s all we have to go on for now.
Opener ‘bad song’ introduces the museum food court sound, sparse arrangements of acoustic guitar and sad and yearning vocals. The lyrics follow suit, lines repeating as if gathering energy or confidence from their own sequences. As such, the tone rises to something like assertion, though whether this is a fake-it-’til-you-make-it product of the repetition or a genuine feeling is unclear.
Second track ‘fingernails’ clocks in at less than 80 seconds, again just soft acoustic guitar and understatedly emotive vocals. As you might expect from a song so short, the lyrics are nothing more than a flash frame of a situation, leaving us to pick up the pieces and conjure the situation around the moment, though the affective sound is more than enough to encourage the filling in of gaps.
I’m remorseful that I couldn’t pick up the phone
a few more times
now you’re above me thinking less of me
if heaven does exist
I’m sorry you have to see me like this
[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=4052898084 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1608584268]
The power of these songs lies in their simplicity, their ability to make you feel feelings with the most basic of equipment. It’s also a reminder of the power of the internet, the fact you can feel those feelings after stumbling across two short songs made by a stranger in their bedroom, halfway across the world. It’s what Various Small Flames is all about.
Get parchment paper on a name-your-price download from the museum food court Bandcamp page.