Oh, Rose

“The vocals have the quality of an exorcism, like the unnatural utterings of a twelve year old as some jaded man of faith flicks holy water at her forehead” – “we reviewed SEVEN, the excellent and vaguely supernatural new album by Oh, Rose”

Amelia Gray

“Reading these stories is like watching a fungus bloom across a wall, like watching a slow-motion video of yourself going up in flames” – we started up a new ‘Books’ section with a review of Amelia Gray’s short story collection, Gutshot.

The Wooden Sky

“[The] distinctive vocals… [are] not pristine or manufactured but rather a product of a feeling, making the protagonists alive and nuanced enough for us to care” – we bumped our review of The Wooden Sky’s Lets Be Ready as it was released worldwide on Nevado Records.

Sean Henry

“When confronting big, complicated things like love, imperfection and death in art, surely the most fruitful method is not to sugar-coat the message in high production values and carefully constructed narratives but instead try to replicate the messy, fractured nature of our lives and consciousness?” – we got deep when previewing Sean Henry’s new album with his first single, ‘The Crow’

O-FACE

“Whirring like a well-oiled machine of cogs and gears which achieves so much more than its composite parts suggest” – a belated review of O-FACE’s EP Mint, out on Father/Daughter and Miscreant Records.

Glen Hansard

“A perfect example of a folk song made pop, a smooth and sentimental tale of goodhearted promises that are impossible to keep” – Our thoughts on ‘Winning Streak’, the first single from Glen Hansard’s new album

June Roundup

Miss anything in June? We have you covered with a playlist featuring every artist we covered during the month.

The Wailin’ Smithers

“The album is packed with smash hits from an alternate dimension, an easygoing universe in which everybody gets along just fine” – The self-titled album from Bloomington rockers The Wailin’ Smithers.

Quick Before It Melts

The music blog celebrated Canada Day by releasing a compilation of Canadian Bands covering Canadian songs.

Alanna McArdle

“Why do women have to work so much harder: why does it always feel like I’m trying to pass a test to prove that I deserve to call myself a musician?” – Alanna McArdle’s essay for The Talkhouse on the perceived role of the frontwoman and why she hates being referred to as just “the singer”.

Ezra Furman

“I’ve embraced the liminal zone that so many of my heroes occupy. I’ve declared independence from categories that don’t work for me…We exist in a multivalent world filled with ambiguities, and I aim to move through it like Lou Reed: independent, continually transforming, free.” – Ezra Furman writes for The Guardian on how he found freedom by embracing ambiguity in both his music and persona.

Noisey / Owen Pallet & Warren Hildebrand

“I found out about the Les Mouches album some time in 2006 and got it from a private torrent site or something similar. It really blew me away when I heard it…It means a lot, being able to help put together a new release for an album that’s been so important to me for so long is so crazy and cool to me.” – Noisey spoke to Owen Pallet and Orchid Tapes’ Warren Hildebrand about the latter’s label reissuing an album from the former’s project Les Mouches.

Fog Lake / START-TRACK

“I would say to keep it as true-to-heart as possible. Stop thinking about what other’s want to hear and start thinking about what you wanna hear. Don’t worry about being technical. Don’t worry what your parents think. Give it your best shot.” – Aaron Powell, aka Fog Lake, has some good advice for creative types in this interview with the cool dudes over at START-TRACK.

Advance Base / Ben Weaver

Daytrotter, the undisputed kings of the live session, served up two gems this week with sets from Advance Base (who has an album on the way dontcha know?) and Ben Weaver (whose album we liked a lot).

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus released a music video / short film which features not one but six songs from their forthcoming album, The Most Lamentable Tragedy, which we will not stop plugging.

Gurr

The Le Sigh premièred a video from Berlin-based “sassy brat punk” band Gurr, featuring live recordings and vintage found footage.

And finally… the 8tracks playlist of the week:

This week’s playlist, from Music Means Family, is collection of songs from artists playing Eaux Claires music festival in Wisconsin. Features some of our favourites like Aero Flynn, S. Carey and Field Report.

The post Week in Review #8 (29th June – 3rd July) appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The album opens with ‘Divided By Animal’ which sets the tone for the album, a finger-picked paean to a simpler life and Weaver’s organic personal philosophy. It’s full of lines like “Whatever happens that’s all I ever want“ and ”Not rich by what I own but rich by what I let go.“ The second track, ‘Rambling Bones,’ follows a similar thread, opening with:

”The hills look like different kinds of fur in the morning
dirty wool-torn clouds blowing through the chinks in my day
neck-deep in the brambles holding pieces of the beast
bring the dogs to the river where the sea used to be.“

The song is the story of a wandering man, of a man who’s life is governed not by the economy or advertising agencies but by the rhythms of the natural world, a man ”out there looking for the last blank space on the map“. It reminded me strongly of a novel I read recently, The Road Home by Jim Harrison, and one character in particular (named Nelse) who wanders around America, living off the land and spending his days doing surveys of the local wildlife. Lots of Weaver’s lyrics seem incredibly relevant to the book, even when he isn’t describing the natural world. The line ”Freckles on her shoulders like birds on a deer / there’s nothing she won’t tell you after two sips of beer“ is especially apt as the only thing that can rival birds and plants for Nelse’s attention is the influence of a certain young woman.

The fourth track, ‘Dear Brown Earth’, is another stand-out, beginning with the ambient chattering of birds and the line ”Some days I go waking with the dog just to go where a dog wants to go.“ The song sounds like a frosty morning, you can almost see the watery light falling through gathering clouds and feel winter on the wind as dry browns leaves blow in drifts. ‘Low Ride’, the final track, is perhaps the best of all. An epic of over eight minutes, it has a wonderfully gentle and reflective cadence, flickering with firelight and the warmth of loved ones. It’s really, really beautiful and one of my favourite songs of the year so far.

”For you I’d burn a house down
I’d break a star from the sky
snow in the snow oaks
come sit by the fire
we’ll talk about the old days
and whittle out the night
get dizzy in the treetops
while the coyotes cry“

To support the new album, Weaver is embarking on a national bicycle tour entitled It’s All the River, in which he will perform at farms, bookstores, bicycle shops and small music venues. The tour will see him follow the course of the Mississippi, from Minneapolis to New Orleans. He aims to use volunteer projects (such as planting native species, prairie restorations and river cleanups), along with songs and poetry to connect audiences to the river and surrounding land. Check the list of tour dates if you’re interested in catching a show,

I’ll leave you with some words from the man himself, taken from his micro-site set up by Banjo Brothers:

“I Would Rather Be a Buffalo came from the thin places, in the forests I wander and the cities I ride. On most days there is a few feet of space between this world and the spirits, the places where I found I Would Rather Be a Buffalo were worn down to an inch or less. I’m willing to risk sentimentality or an over sincere jest to say these things, to preserve the rivers and box canyons, the needlework light in the tall pines, and the blank spaces on the map for wolves, bears and my heart to wander.”

You can buy I Would Rather Be a Buffalo via Hymie’s Records.

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