The music of Desert Blonde, the recording project of New York’s Zach Hinkle, harks back to a classic folk sound. Combining the traditional country spirit of Blaze Foley and Townes Van Zandt with the sincerity of Conor Oberst, plus some of the dry wit of John Prine, Hinkle strips back the complications of contemporary living in favour of something quieter and more thoughtful. The latest Desert Blonde EP, Live Slow Die Old, wears this intention on its sleeve—an ode to the introverted and reflective that aims to excavate a pocket of calm amid the chaos. A place to retreat to when the present gets overwhelming, a reconnection with the simple side of life and a reminder things need not be this way.
Live Slow Die Old was recorded with engineer Tommy Cormier, first at Greenpoint Recording Collective last winter then finished in quarantine via email and text messages. The switch from in-person to cyberspace only furthered the simplicity of the release, helping to hold off temptation for any last minute ostentatious additions. Cormier complements Hinkle’s delivery and guitar with a careful hand, using accordion, mandolin, piano and percussion sparingly alongside Kendra Kovarik’s backing vocals, producing an organic country sound.
Today we have the honour of sharing the latest single, ‘Stay For Good’. Working in an atmosphere of restraint, the song holds emotional urgency at arms length, a familiar tale of a failing relationship and the desperate attempts to salvage it stripped of its histrionics. A warm, contemplative and corrective force, a righting of a long miscommunication that might not set the heartbreak right, but at least casts it in a fonder light.
You got a bone to pick
I got a wound to lick
you think you’re feeling sick
I think you’re fineYou got a bridge to burn
I got some things to learn
you’ll make it your concern
I don’t care now, anyhowBut what do I have to say
to make you want to stay?
Please tell me