The two Jurado covers are from Slowcoustic’s fantastic Covers Project, the Rufus Wainwright one is from Pickwick’s Fuel/Friends Chapel Session and the Dire Straits cover was included after reading an article on the late Matt Ryd on Cover Lay Down. I have no idea what is going on in the Mac DeMarco track.

Tracklisting:

1. Falling (Twin Peaks Theme) – Field Mouse
2. You Took Your Time (Mount Kimbie Cover) – Julia Losfelt
3. Talamak (Toro y Moi Cover) – Houses
4. Thinking About You (Frank Ocean Cover) – Typhoon
5. Heysátan (Sigur Rós Cover) – Leif Vollebekk
6. No Other Love (Jo Stafford Cover) – Night Beds
7. Foolish Love (Rufus Wainwright Cover) – Pickwick
8. Beacon Hill (Damien Jurado Cover) – Small Houses (w/ Kevin Killen)
9. We All Make The Flowers Grow (Lee Hazelwood Cover) – Siskiyou
10. Father and Son (Cat Stevens Cover) – Johnny Cash & Fiona Apple
11. Indie Queens Are Waiting (Dan Mangan Cover) – Will Driving West
12. Fade Into You (Mazzy Star Cover) – J Mascis
13. Fit (Windmill Cover) – Snob Dylan
14. Don’t Let Them See You Cry (Manchester Orchestra Cover) – Ted Monday
15. Isolation (Joy Division Cover) – If Thousands
16. Medication (Damien Jurado Cover) – Wes Tirey
17. Drive All Night (Bruce Springsteen Cover) – The Swell Season
18. Romeo & Juliet (Dire Straits Cover) – Matt Ryd
19. Gypsy He-Witch (Jason Molina Cover) – Will Oldham
20. Medley (Various Covers) – Mac DeMarco

As always, the mix is intended as an introduction to these artists. I have put links in the tracklisting so you can explore a bit further. Enjoy!

The Covers Mix: Volume #9 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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Not An Exit is dreamy in more ways than one. The overall sound could be pegged at ‘Dream Pop’ and filed next to Lemolo or Fiona Apple, although the slighly fuzzy and minimal instrumentation conveys a slow serene imagining rather than some vividly ethereal fantasy. The result is a collection of songs that sound confidently crafted and fully controlled, holding the hand of the listener through beautiful oneiric landscape they have created. The EP bubbles away until (my personal favourite) ‘Shipwreck’ dares to break through a little more with it’s desperate refrain. It drags the listener back from the comfortable meander they had enjoying presents the always-just-masked emotion for all to see. It’s a cleverly put together piece that deserves to be played in order.

The other aspect of dreaminess on Not An Exit runs through the lyrics. On ‘Not An Exit’ Brown sings ’Wake up darlin’, wake up to a lucid dream’ and the line heralds the themes across the album. On each song there are references to dreams; Maybe not bona fide nighttime-in-bed dreams, but psychological constructs that we all experience. Imaginings and fantasies, fears and worries, they are all running through these songs to produce something that is paradoxically very real (as in recognisable) while also being fictitious (in that we have no way of directly observing or measuring them).

The fact that I’ve looked so deeply (too deeply?) into these songs is a testament to this duo. They create music that demands repeated listens and makes you think a little more than maybe you would normally, which for a Dream Pop band (a genre which is often focussed solely on nice sounds as a form of escapism) is no mean feat. Buy the EP on Bandcamp where you can also download the title track free of charge.

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