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“Solar Babes” – Storm Recorder

Brisk, poignant guitar rock

“Solar Babes” – Storm Recorder

Driven by brisk, clangy guitar chords, “Solar Babes” has an unmistakable poignancy about it, even as I can’t quite put my finger on what’s driving that impression. Some of this seems built into Jesse LeGallais’ voice, with its fetching, slightly nasal timbre. Some of it may be generated by the verse’s insistent, two-chord melody, the sing-song-y quality of which creates an underlying innocence to the proceedings.

The chorus, comprising little more than the word “fight,” creates a passing sense of movement even as it’s still built on the same two-chord foundation. The breakthrough happens around 1:15, after one more round of verses: we find ourselves in an extended bridge or bridge-like section that offers the ear the sorts of chord progressions the song has previously withheld from us, and which sound all but heroic in context. Equally heroic is how the opening chords are re-cast at the end in a brief, quasi-Springsteen-esque conclusion (2:07). Wrapping up in under three minutes, the song invites and rewards multiple listens.

Storm Recorder is the Nova Scotia-based duo of LeGallais and Palmer Jamieson. LeGallais was based in Montreal for 15 years, playing in an assortment of bands, before moving to Halifax; Jamieson is a Halifax-based producer who runs his own studio. LeGallais initially intended to record a solo project with Jamieson. Their level of affinity ended up turning the record into a new, joint project called Storm Recorder. “Solar Babes” is the opening track on the album Always Coming Home, which they position as an homage to the Ursula LeGuin novel of the same name. A particular inspiration for the duo comes from a LeGuin quotation the band has posted on its Bandcamp page: “We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable–but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings.” These are words that feel especially welcome right about now. Thanks to LeGallais for the MP3.

I’m surprised that you even found me

Eclectic Playlist Series 12.03 – May 2025

I won’t continue to bemoan my country’s current situation via these posts, other than ongoingly try to be a voice of reason in the face of the inhumane madness of the man currently occupying the White House–a man so brave and strong that he cannot tolerate even one word of criticism. But we knew that about him. Laid bare, most discouragingly, is how the naked desire for power has warped an entire political party’s capacity to discern right from wrong. I guess it’s been coming for a while (see song #20, below) but here we are. The question now is where are we going.

But me, to avoid the despair, I’ve wrestled this latest set of songs more or less to the ground. Apologies in advance for at least one potentially clunky segue. I try. Meanwhile, from an obscure neo-surf-rock band to a pop megastar (that’s an actual segue), from lost soul nuggets to a hypnotic piece of contemporary classical music, it’s another unusual journey through the genres and the decades, but if you’re still reading this I’m guessing you’re up for it. Down with the algorithm, up with the human touch; here’s this month’s road map:

1. “Outside Chance” – The Turtles (single, 1966)
2. “Over and Over” – Shelby Lynne (Consequences of the Crown, 2024)
3. “Calhoun Surf” – Raybeats (Guitar Beat, 1981)
4. “State of Grace” – Taylor Swift (Red, 2012)
5. “Lay My Love” – Brian Eno & John Cale (Wrong Way Up, 1990)
6. “Stop, Look and Listen” – Barbara Acklin (B-side, 1971)
7. “Deep Red Bells” – Neko Case (Blacklisted, 2002)
8. “Glass: Études: No. 6” – Yuja Wang (The Vienna Recital, 2024)
9. “You Know What I Mean” – Cults (Cults, 2011)
10. “Mr. President (Have Pity On The Working Man)” – Randy Newman (Good Old Boys, 1974)
11. “Seven Steps” – Cassandra Wilson (Traveling Miles, 1999)
12. “Won’t You Give Him (One More Chance)” – Solomon Burke (Rock ‘n Soul, 1964)
13. “One Horse Town” – The Thrills (So Much For The City, 2003)
14. “Tell Me What You Want” – Daryl Hall & John Oates (Private Eyes, 1981)
15. “Want You” – Francis of Delirium (Lighthouse, 2024)
16. “8:05” – Moby Grape (Moby Grape, 2017)
17. “I’m the One That’s Leaving” – Bram Tchaikovsky (Strange Man, Changed Man, 1979)
18. “Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)” – Soul II Soul (Keep On Movin’, 1989)
19. “Box of Letters” – The Ericksons (Don’t Be Scared, Don’t Be Alarmed, 2010)
20. “Soldiers of Christ” – Jill Sobule (Happy Town, 1997)

Random notes:

* So sad and horrific to have lost Jill Sobule in a house fire, of all things. I would like to propose that there was far more to her catalog of music than “I Kissed a Girl” and “Supermodel,” even as those two songs on Spotify dwarf everything else she’s recorded by outlandish proportions. (“Supermodel” has 7.5 million streams; meanwhile, a great song like “One of These Days” has but 13K.) She was a songwriter who didn’t mince words or avoid political engagement, as you’ll see from the song I leave you with here–a song that shows off her toughness and poignancy and the drollness she served up with a large dollop of melancholy. And was she friggin’ prescient or what? This was 1997. I guess it reminds us that our country has always had its share of self-righteous hypocrites using religion as a shield for their bigotry (cf. the Civil War). Sorry about the derogatory word near the beginning; remember that Sobule, very much the LGBTQ+ activist, is singing here as an (extremely) unreliable narrator and this was still the ’90s. By the way, I can’t help thinking that she continually slurs the words “Our lord” throughout the song to sound more than a little like “Allah.” Just to bust some right-wing chops. I’ve always loved her close and quirky vocal style, which is on full display in what I have very purposefully selected as a closer. Poor Jill…but if anything resembling heaven actually exists (doubtful!), she’s a shoe-in, while the song’s benighted narrator and people like him or her would be in for a big surprise.

* Speaking of songwriters who don’t mince words or shy from controversial topics (or unreliable narrators for that matter), let’s welcome back to an EPS mix Mr. Randy Newman. Newman is a national treasure whom we really must keep remembering to appreciate while he is still with us. This rollicking yet oddly touching tune from 1974’s Good Old Boys presents a somewhat downtrodden but actually quite reliable narrator, who wonders aloud why the president doesn’t seem to care about working people. Talk about prescient. The arrangement is exquisite; listen in particular to how Newman uses the orchestration to resolve melodies. Absolutely nobody has ever written songs like Randy Newman when he’s on his game.

* Is that some Edge-y inspiration in “State of Grace”? One might say Taylor went a little out of control there…

* “Outside Chance” was a commercially unsuccessful single by the Turtles, but not only is it an excellent song (reminder: “popular” and “quality” are often unrelated concepts), the music was written by none other than Warren Zevon, long before he emerged as a well-respected singer/songwriter in his own right. I had placed this song here some weeks ago, before the news arrived of Zevon’s long-awaited if sideways induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. To whatever extent that institution is meaningful, Mr. Zevon’s long-standing exclusion was a black eye on the folks in charge of such things. The man in any case is still missed.

* For the uninitiated, the pianist Yuja Wang is as close to a rock star as the classical world (very occasionally) produces. The Chinese-born American performer has played with all the major American orchestras and most of the leading international ensembles as well. And while I have no ear for the seemingly minute but apparently very important nuances that separate one pianist’s mechanics and style from another, I know a good tune when I hear one. When Philip Glass manages to condense minimalism’s signature monotony into something concise and, dare I say, dramatic, he can produce music that’s accessible to audiences well beyond the academy and related cognoscenti, unlike too many of his contemporary classical composer peers.

* Francis of Delirium is not only notable in the rock’n’roll world for being from Luxembourg (a country not well known for cultural exports), they are impressive for their confident and compelling recordings. “Want You” is from the band’s debut album, Lighthouse, which came out in March 2024 and is well worth a listen. I featured “Blue Tuesday” from that album in a track review last year. And I also featured one of their earlier singles, in 2022, in a post that offers a short but effective recap of how this somewhat unusual band came about. Meanwhile, don’t sleep on “Want You,” which is one of 2024’s better if underappreciated songs.

* “Calhoun Surf” is a song with a long tail. It begins in 1980, when the songwriter and guitarist Danny Amis was in a band called the Overtones, who released the song on a local Minneapolis label. Amis left to join the New York City band Raybeats, who recorded the song themselves the next year. In 1988 Amis formed a new band, Los Straitjackets, which pretty quickly broke up but then reformed in 1994. The band included their own version of “Calhoun Surf” on their 1995 debut album. Los Straitjackets went on to much more widespread success and recognition than did either of Amis’ previous two outfits. He remained with the band through 2017; Los Straitjackets are still doing their thing, most recently recording an album with Nick Lowe in 2024.

“Serious Man” – Soltero

Brisk and thoughtful

“Serious Man” – Soltero

A confident burst of thoughtful indie rock, “Serious Man” hooks the ear first with its jangly guitar riff and then witih its characteristic time-signature hiccup, arising first as we hear the titular phrase around 0:13: those two extra beats required to fit the music to the words manage both to interrupt and to reaffirm the appealing flow. Nothing like a little asymmetry to make the world a better place in this age of overly perfected beats and AI-induced conformity. Nothing, too, like Tim Howard’s reassuring, unpolished voice, to remind us that we want and need human beings out there expressing themselves. (Why anyone would want to hear a machine expressing itself remains a puzzle to my organic brain and my beating heart.)

“Serious Man” is brisk and to the point, but also expansive enough to include some incisive octave harmonies, some scratchy guitar work, and, as unexpected as it is welcome, a bass solo (1:35-1:47). Best of all is the underlying sense of humor that subtly supports the enterprise, knowingly undercutting the singer’s effort to assert his seriousness. It’s not laugh out loud humor, at all; it’s weary-acceptance-of-the-human condition humor. Although Howard’s low-register vocal following the bass solo (1:47) does provoke a soft smile, at least for me.

Soltero is a shape-shifting project fronted by Howard, which got started back in 2001. Sometimes a solo project, Soltero is now a trio. “Serious Man” is the lead track from Soltero’s ninth album, Staying Alive, released last month. You can check the whole thing out, and buy it, over on Bandcamp. This is the first album Soltero has recorded since the American-born Howard relocated to Berlin in 2018. Soltero has been featured five previous times on Fingertips, most recently in 2023; see the Artist Index for all the links.

“Fire Sign” – S.G. Goodman

Strong personality and drive

“Fire Sign” – S.G. Goodman

Alternating between a dusty stomp and a keening incantation, “Fire Sign” finds S.G. Goodman sounding weary yet self-possessed. At the song’s heart, the Western Kentucky singer/songwriter changes vocal registers to persistently pose the question “Who’ll put the fire out?” The repetition, lyrically and musically, takes on an aspect of supplication. Is part of her wondering what it’ll take to extinguish her inner drive? Why is she assuming it can/will in fact be extinguished? Unless she’s pondering the permanent extinguishment that awaits us all. Her press material does report that this song was written in the aftermath of the deaths of both her dog and a good friend and mentor while Goodman was out on a grueling tour. Meanwhile, why is it a “who” versus a “what”? (Note that in the same material she answers the question directly: “The only person who can put my fire out is myself.”)

Astrologically speaking, fire signs are characterized by their strong personalities and drive. This song has both. Goodman’s knack for the offbeat turn of phrase–“Shapeshifting through the night of life’s turn rows”? “No curling in the daylight”?–is buttressed by the music’s durable framework. We don’t hear anything but bass and drum under her cold-open vocals until 36 seconds in. The only addition we get at first is a thoughtful, resonant guitar, describing phrases that lag behind the song’s rhythmic center. Halfway through (1:12) we hear a keyboard that’s just as thoughtful and restrained, adding almost subliminally to the hand-wrought texture, moving to the front of the mix only at the tail end of the coda. What the song may ultimately lack in development it makes up for in potency. No one’s putting Goodman’s fire out just yet.

“Fire Sign” is a song from Goodman’s forthcoming album, Planting By the Signs, which will be arriving in June. She was previously featured on Fingertips in August 2020.

“Wherever” – Jonas Carping

Steady melodies, resonant vocals

“Wherever” – Jonas Carping

There’s something about the central descending melody delivered by Jonas Carping’s rich baritone that feels especially satisfying here. Perhaps all the more so because of how Carping teasingly withholds the crucial chord progression that underpins the melody the first time he takes us through it (0:12-0:22). As a listener I feel both intrigued and a little “huh?” at that point. But the context is corrected immediately thereafter (listen for that first, greatly anticipated chord change at 0:27), and throughout the rest of the song.

The other attractive thing about “Wherever” is the way its aural space subtly shifts as the song unfolds. For the first 50 seconds we’re in an unmoored, vacant lot of a space, with vague background sounds accompanying a heartbeat drumbeat. Things solidify slightly at 0:49 as a full drum kit kicks in while a droning electric guitar ringingly expands the landscape. A brief but incisive drum fill at 1:12 flips a sonic switch and we lose the muted fogginess of the opening third. As things progress the song’s simple, steady melodies acquire a sort of august resonance, amplified by Carping’s sonorous vocals. While the song stays mostly within his lower register, the couple of times in the last minute that he reaches slightly higher are each a mini-highlight.

Jonas Carping is a singer/songwriter based in Lund, in the south of Sweden. Interesting story: Carping has been submitting his music to Fingertips since 2012–enough times to be an inbox regular, not enough times to be an annoyance. I’ve always liked his songs but they each time seemed to fall just a little short, due no doubt to my own idiosyncrasies as a listener. “Wherever,” for whatever reason, hits the mark for me; so here, at long last, is Jonas Carping. “Wherever” is a song from an upcoming EP. MP3 via the artist.

You laugh tonight and cry tomorrow

Eclectic Playlist Series 12.02 – February 2025

We said goodbye to the mighty Marianne Faithfull last month, as well as to the quiet genius Garth Hudson, wizard organist of The Band, who skillfully handled any number of other instruments as well. I need to remain mindful about working musical elders into these mixes while they’re still alive, as I am not trying to get all “In Memoriam” here. But these two deserve an appreciative word, a respectful moment of silence if you’re so inclined, and a place in the playlist, so you’ll find them here in 12.02.

Beyond that, so many things to tear one’s hair out about. Still hard to believe that we have turned the reins over to a convicted criminal, whose track record as a human being falls so short of humane all the possible ways. With this track record you wouldn’t hire him to babysit your child and yet here we are. The situation has inadvertently uncovered democracy’s foundational fatal flaw: in designing positions of power that people can attain via, essentially, a popularity contest, in the long run the evil people are going to win, for the simple reason that they are always going to want it more. And, because evil is as evil does, they will be willing to do what it takes, which will always eventually include subverting the very institutions and systems through which they attained the power. Me, I retreat into music, finding solace there, and community. I offer a heartfelt thank you to those of you who have written in with encouraging words. As I have said in the past, knowing that I’m making a genuine connection with a small number of people feels, these days, much more rewarding than seeing soulless statistics about clicks and visits. Ideally this might also reflect back onto you, knowing that you aren’t just a faceless one among millions. You matter here, as an actual person.

And with that, the songs:

1. “Até Ao Verão” – Ana Moura (Desfado, 2012)
2. “Ticket to Ride” – The Beatles Help!, 1965)
3. “Get It While You’re Young” – The Act (Too Late at 20, 1981)
4. “That’s What You Say (Every Time You’re Near Me)” – Gloria Scott (What Am I Gonna Do, 1974)
5. “Beaches” – Beabadoobee (This is How Tomorrow Moves, 2024)
6. “Army Of Me” – Björk (Post, 1995)
7. “Blue Skies” – Art Tatum (Art Tatum, 1950)
8. “Woman King” – Iron & Wine (Woman King EP, 2005)
9. “Nathan Jones” – The Supremes (Touch, 1971)
10. “Sunday Best” – Lauren Mayberry (Vicious Creature, 2024)
11. “You Keep On Lyin'” – The Hoods (Gangsters & Morticians, 1991)
12. “Look Out Cleveland” – The Band (The Band, 1969)
13. “Vendala Vida” – Dinosaur Feathers (Fantasy Memorial, 2010)
14. “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” – Marianne Faithfull (Strange Weather, 1987)
15. “The Narcissist” – Blur (The Ballad of Darren, 2023)
16. “He Can Only Hold Her” – Amy Winehouse (Back to Black, 2007)
17. “Better Must Come” – Delroy Wilson (Better Must Come, 1971)
18. “Change” – Tears For Fears (The Hurting, 1983)
19. “Walking Aimlessly” – Anna Ternheim (The Night Visitor, 2011)
20. “Life Is” – Jessica Pratt (Here in the Pitch, 2024)

Random notes:

* We’ll start with something a bit off the beaten path: Ana Moura’s splendid “Até Ao Verão.” Delicious, melodramatic chords anchor the heart of this deceptively brisk composition while lovely, front-of-mix guitar work dominates the accompaniment. Ana Moura is a Portuguese fado singer, but her 2012 album Desfado was somewhat controversial among sticklers, not being a pure fado LP. She actually recorded the album in the United States, employing the American producer Larry Klein. Fado or no, the Portuguese public didn’t mind at all; it now stands as the country’s biggest-selling album of all time. For the first time, Moura sings in English on a few songs on this album. But you don’t have to understand the lyrics to be moved by “Até Ao Verão” (which translates to “Until Summer,” according to Mr. Google); the song is gorgeous, with all the melancholy ache of traditional fado but with a modern spark igniting the performance.

* Okay so “Ticket to Ride” may be so familiar that your ear doesn’t really pay attention to what it’s hearing. But to me, this has always been one of the more magical Lennon-McCartney numbers. To begin with, it comes from a marvelous pivot point in their output, possessing at once the simple-seeming charm of their early hits while also displaying a depth of craft that will start to characterize their music moving forward. Listen to how the recurring guitar pattern and the drumming together conspire to defeat a strict sense of time. Note too the simple yet beguiling chord changes that link the verse to the chorus, and the striking intervals in the vocal harmonies at that same point. Things of course would grow ever more complex as the Beatles soon begin to use the recording studio itself as a kind of instrument. As a side note, some three years into their recording careers (Help! was already their fifth album), this was the first Beatles song to clock in at over three minutes.

* The trio Dinosaur Feathers had a minor moment in the online sun back when the music blogosphere was a dynamic thing. But their internet trail is pretty thin at this point–no Wikipedia page, a handful of likes on a Facebook page last updated in 2015, a Bandcamp page you have to dig through to find their full discography. “Vendela Vida” dates back to the days of good promise, in 2010, from the band’s debut album Fantasy Memorial; it was featured here that same year. The song’s connection to the writer Vendela Vida was and is unclear. Maybe it was just a fun name to sing. In any case this is still a fun song to listen to.

* “Nathan Jones” was, in 1971, one of the last top-20 hits for the Supremes after the departure of Diana Ross, who left the group the previous year. The three remaining Supremes certainly stayed busy in the immediate aftermath: the album Touch, where you’ll find “Nathan Jones,” was already the Supremes’ fifth Ross-free release. While Jean Terrell had taken over lead vocals, for “Nathan Jones” all three women sang lead together, an unusual and rather fetching maneuver.

* The Act was a British band plying their trade at the height of new wave’s power pop takeover; their one album, Too Late At 20, came out on Hannibal Records in 1981. The Act’s only minor claim to fame is being the band that Nick Laird-Clowes was in before going on to front The Dream Academy (best known for “Life in a Northern Town,” which Laird-Clowes co-wrote). That said, “Get It While You’re Young” is a pretty solid piece of vintage early-’80s British rock, an era and sound for which I will always have a soft spot.

* Lauren Mayberry is the lead singer of the Scottish band Chvrches. Vicious Creature is her first solo album, but she has made it clear that the band, while currently on hiatus, will be back together in the future. And if all else fails down the road, maybe she can fall back on her undergraduate law degree and master’s degree in journalism. But I’d say she’s not nearly through as a singer and songwriter. Her bright, pop-leaning sound is tempered, to my ears, by deft melodic acumen as well as activist-informed lyrics that range well beyond the purview of the typical Spotify hit.

* The Jessica Pratt song “Life Is” was selected as the best song of 2024 by the venerable Said the Gramophone blog, maintained all these years by the novelist Sean Michaels. Michaels can write circles around pretty much anyone who tries to write about music. His wide-ranging taste is not always mine; he finds treasure in the extremities of both pop and lo-fi that eludes my ears. But this one stuck with me. I like its strong yet leisurely beat and its sneaky melodicism. That post-chorus shift at 1:19 is inspiring, and leads into a second verse with a different melody than the first. The song is a glowing mystery, and a nice place to land.

“Consequences” – The Spectacular Fantastic

Semi-lo-fi semi-power-pop

“Consequences” – The Spectacular Fantastic

An early-era Fingertips favorite returns for the second time in, oh, 20 years. The Spectacular Fantastic are still up to their semi-lo-fi, semi-power-poppy ways, guitars and fuzz and melodies at the ready. Clocking in at a pop-rock perfect 3:33, “Consequences” is adeptly built, with a solid underlying chug that gives the incisive guitar work time to stretch out. Frontman Mike Detmer sings in a tone that sounds one part irritated and one part wounded; it’s a fine line sometimes. There are even some loud-soft and fast-slow dynamics at play here, a perhaps unusual touch for such a homegrown enterprise.

“Consequences” grabs the ear with its opening line–“What I do when I do what I do/Is none of your business”; after that things get charmingly elusive in terms of both structure and content. The lyrics sound half defiant, half apologetic. Consciously or not, this appears to be reflected in a song that seems to operate in a middle ground between verse and chorus, somehow not possessing either thing fully. There is basically one eight-measure melody–it ascends, descends, and then sort of resolves and sort of doesn’t. While you’re left thinking about that, there is space for the guitar, in all its nicely articulated glory, its tone calling to us from another time and place. For variation, the main melody at one point gets delivered, stripped down, in half time. As for hooks, there is (kind of) one–the recurring, repeated lyrical phrase “I don’t care”–and yet its very concept is undermined, humorously (I think!), by the song’s title. The guy is braying about not caring and yet the song is called “Consequences.”

The Spectacular Fantastic is a loose-knit, intermittently gathered project fronted by Mike Detmer, whose day job for the past four years or so has him running a neighborhood coffee spot with his wife in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, on the western outskirts of the greater Cincinnati metro area. (It’s called Funny Farm Coffee, another hint at the sense of humor Detmer deploys.) “Consequences” is a track from TSF’s forthcoming album, Fantasy Clouds, coming out later in February. Thanks to Mike for the MP3. By the way, all of the band’s releases–eight previous LPs and four EPs–are uploaded on the Internet Archive and are available there for free.

For those keeping score at home, the Spectacular Fantastic have been featured here three previous times: twice in the innocent days of 2005, and once more in the substantially less innocent year of 2016.

“Stereo” – Kendall Jane Meade

Exquisite singing, memorable melody

“Stereo” – Kendall Jane Meade

What starts as a precise bit of acoustic singer/songwriter fare transforms itself in the chorus into a memorable mid-tempo rocker. What pulls the listener in and through is Kendall Jane Meade’s beguiling singing voice. Soft and silvery, it’s the kind of voice that makes you wonder why some other people even bother to sing. Equally important here is the strength of the melody in the chorus. With the verse, the ear gets it, sure, she has a pretty voice; when the chorus arrives, by some deep alchemy the thing leapfrogs to a new level. The instrumental bridge with the ringing, distorted electric guitar (1:37) is an unexpected bonus. “Stereo” is not very long; the chorus only comes around twice. I put the song on repeat and left it there for quite a while.

The song had its origins in news in 2023 about Madonna canceling tour dates due to a health scare. Like Madonna, Meade is from Detroit and had always felt a kinship with the so-called “queen of pop.” The thought of potentially losing this hometown icon put Meade in a reflective mood, and “Stereo” was the result.

Meade was previously featured on Fingertips back when she was recording as Mascott, in 2013. I was as smitten with her voice back then as I am here in 2025. “Stereo” is a song from Space, Meade’s first solo album released under her own name, coming out at the end of February on Mother West Records.

“Cut Stitch Scar” – CocoRosie

Expansive, idiosyncratic art rock

“Cut Stitch Scar” – CocoRosie

As adventurous and idiosyncratic as ever, the Casady sisters are back with their singular brand of expansive, inscrutable art rock. Alternately heavy and restrained, changing rhythms and tones at will, “Cut Stitch Scar” traffics in one of CocoRosie’s superpowers, which is the capacity to be experimental and accessible at the same time. Even as it takes a while to get one’s arms around this one as a whole experience, the song’s initial urgency brings the listener in without hesitation. Bianca Casady sings with that child-like warble of hers, but rather than hesitancy it conveys authority. The lyrics urge us to “Take a leap of faith,” and that’s just what listening to CocoRosie demands. You’re not going to know what they’re singing about, you’re not going to anticipate or necessarily vibe with all of their musical choices, but it’s so clear that they know what they’re doing that I see no reason not to jump in with them.

That said, this song maybe needs a few listens. It starts blippy and glitchy, quickly acquires a satisfying percussive groove, and starts, lyrically, in the middle of some sort of dramatic, dimly understood circumstance, perhaps a dream. The tempo, and much of the instrumentation, disappears at the tail end of the verse and into the chorus. Electronics mix with heavenly backing vocals. The lyrics, as ever with the Casadys, may often baffle but they always always scan. The groove returns, vanishes, returns. Rubbery synths are heard. Vocals get distorted. But we never get too far away from satisfying chords. That may be one of the things that keeps the song legible to the ear, however weird it gets: those satisfying chords.

Bianca and Sierra–who identify as part Native American–had an unorthodox, peripatetic childhood, moving regularly, living in a variety of different states, and being exposed to a variety of bizarre, New Age-y experiences, some more disconcerting than others. Their history together as musicians is by now too long and involved to summarize, but you can read a little more about them via the three previous times they’ve been featured on Fingertips: in 2007, 2010, and 2017.

“Cut Stitch Scar” is a song from the forthcoming album Little Death Wishes, arriving at the end of March on Joyful Noise Records. It’s the duo’s eighth album, dating back to their 2004 debut.

photo credit: Kate Russell

You can never really tell

Eclectic Playlist Series 12.01 – January 2025

I fell a little behind in playlist production in 2024; here’s another one emerging a month or so later than intended. But, better late than really really late. And I guess it’s good that I hadn’t been making an overtly holiday-related mix. I did leave in a song associated with Christmas but in this version it feels more winter- than holiday-oriented, so still quite appropriate, if only for the title alone.

Otherwise, hello. Happy new year? We can always dream. Getting right into the music, this month’s mix features 10 artists who have not previously found their way onto an Eclectic Playlist Series playlist, even as we are now in year 12. I do strive to keep the newcomers coming in, while always enjoying the opportunity to mix them in with favorites old and not too old. And it is January, which, according to house rules, means that the library resets, rendering any previously featured artist now available. (The house rule, for the uninitiated, is that no artist may be featured in an EPS mix more than once in a given calendar year. The slate is wiped clean each January and we start again.) Three particular, all-time favorites are making an early appearance; newsletter recipients will know exactly who they are. (Have I ever mentioned that the newsletter version of this comes with bonus notes? Now you know!)

And here’s what you’re in for here in this particularly bleak midwinter:

1. “Earn Enough For Us” – XTC (Skylarking, 1986)
2. “Girl Don’t Make Me Wait” – Bunny Sigler (Let the Good Times Roll & (Feel So Good), 1967)
3. “But Not Kiss” – Faye Webster (Undressed at the Symphony, 2023)
4. “The Outsiders” – R.E.M. (Around the Sun, 2004)
5. “Sweet Little Truth” – Tasmin Archer (Bloom, 1996)
6. “Love is a Stranger” – Eurythmics (Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This), 1982)
7. “You Probably Get That a Lot” – They Might Be Giants (Join Us, 2011)
8. “Now is the Time” – Norma Tanega (I Don’t Think It Will Hurt If You Smile, 1971)
9. “On The Wrong Side” – Lindsey Buckingham (Lindsey Buckingham, 2021)
10. “Appalachia Waltz” – Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Mark O’Connor (Appalachia Waltz, 1996)
11. “Somebody Hurt You” – A Girl Called Eddy (A Girl Called Eddy, 2004)
12. “Stay” – David Bowie (Station to Station, 1976)
13. “I Belong In Your Arms” – Chairlift (Something, 2012)
14. “I See the Rain” – Marmalade (There’s a Lot of it About, 1968)
15. “Dragonfly” – Samantha Crain (single, 2024)
16. “Days” – Television (Adventure, 1978)
17. “Above the Treeline” – Jane Siberry (Jane Siberry, 1980)
18. “Buildings & Mountains” – The Republic Tigers (Keep Color, 2008)
19. “In the Bleak Midwinter” – Polly Scattergood and Maps (single, 2014)
20. “Better Git In Your Soul” – Davy Graham (Folk, Blues & Beyond, 1965)

Random notes:

* “In the Bleak Midwinter” is a Christmas song, but stripped here of its religious content, the song functions more broadly as a statement of seasonal resolve– we hear ongoingly of the “bleak midwinter,” the electronics provide a blizzardy whoosh, and singer Polly Scattergood, nearly but not entirely overshadowed, holds her ground. Scattergood here works with James Chapman, who does musical business as Maps; the two British musicians also had a one-off go-round as a duo, known as On Dead Waves, releasing one album in 2016. Both have been individually featured on Fingertips, Scattergood in 2013, Chapman even further back, in 2007. Scattergood’s most recent record is 2020’s In This Moment, while Maps released Counter Melodies in 2022.

* It’s possible that “Stay” is my favorite David Bowie song.

* “Appalachia Waltz” is calm and quiet and clearly unlike songs typically featured here. I invite you to slow yourself down to adapt to its pace and vibe. If you do, you may find that the composition works some kind of magic on your state of being, the deliberate, cycling and recycling melodies melting any resistance you might have to this kind of thing– whatever “this kind of thing” actually is. Once you meet the piece where it is you may find that, at 5:47, rather than seeming too long, it ends up seeming not long enough.

* Smoky-voiced singer/songwriter Erin Moran has been recording as A Girl Called Eddy since 2004. The records have been sporadic to say the least: there have been only three full-length albums to date, most recently 2020’s Been Around. An air of bygone songwriting styles and arrangements floats through Moran’s work; her professed love of the great Burt Bacharach audibly informs what she writes and sings. “Somebody Hurt You” comes from her debut self-titled album, released in 2004. Hat tip to George at Between Two Islands for the recommendation.

* As both a singer and guitarist, Lindsey Buckingham has an iconic sound, which was on full display on his most recent album, recorded in 2018 but due to the ongoing drama that forever is and was Buckingham and/or Fleetwood Mac, not released until 2021. The self-titled album got strong reviews but didn’t seem to muster a lot of attention. But, expertly crafted, catchy as hell, and intermittently odd, it’s just about everything a late-’70s/early-’80s Fleetwood Mac fan would want from a solo record of his. The artist’s conflict-filled history aside, this album is well worth a listen.

* Before she became a left-of-center indie pop diva, Caroline Polachek was co-founder of the band Chairlift. Chairlift began as a duo in Boulder, Colorado before moving to Brooklyn, expanding to a trio, and then shrinking back to a duo with the new guy replacing the first guy. (First guy had been Polachek’s boyfriend, then not.) “I Belong In Your Arms” comes from the band’s second album, Something, released in 2012. They would release one more album–Moth, in 2016– before going their separate ways. Polachek’s solo work has twice previously been featured in an EPS mix, in February 2022 and May 2023.

* Davy Graham was a pioneering figure in the history of British folk music. Known for his fingerpicking (also known as fingerstyle) guitar work, Graham introduced sounds from outside the UK (including the Middle East and India) into his arrangements and compositions. He is sometimes credited with inventing the folk guitar instrumental; his song “Anji” (sometimes spelled “Angi”) became something of a model and inspiration for a new generation of guitarists, including Bert Jansch and John Renbourn. You may in fact be familiar with it via Simon & Garfunkel, who put the song on their Sounds of Silence album. “Better Git In Your Soul” is Graham’s arrangement of a Charles Mingus song; it closes his 1965 album Folks, Blues & Beyond.