Fingertips

“Poison My Cup” – Shannon McArdle

Creating a world of hurt and yearning out of a repetitive two-chord riff isn’t probably the easiest thing to do, but Shannon McArdle appears to have a lot of hurt to spare. “Poison My Cup” not only succeeds, but when it ends, I’m not ready. The evocative vocals, sounding like a prettier-voiced Liz Phair; the strong yet insouciant bass line; the oddly uncelebratory tambourine; the steady, intermittently forceful drumbeat—together they create a brisk, hypnotic dirge of a song, complete with mournful wailing at just the right moments. I could listen to this just about all day.

The backstory of the hurt: McArdle joined the band the Mendoza Line in 2000, and married bandmate Timothy Bracy in 2005. Both the band and the couple both broke up within the last year; the mini-album 30 Year Low, released last August, was a searing document of the divorce.

“Poison My Cup” suggests that McArdle is still processing the painful events of the past year or so, as does the title of the album on which you’ll find the song (Summer of the Whore), which is scheduled for release next month on Bar/None Records. MP3 via Bar/None.

“Good Fight Fighting” – the Very Most

This breezy slice of summery indie pop might’ve glided by my ears without quite sticking were it not for the subtle but significant fork in the road the song takes during its final third: at 1:47, the music modulates, the melody turns inside out, and the lead vocal is hijacked by the female backup vocalist, Rachel Jensen. Rachel is the sister of Jeremy Jensen, the Very Most’s front man, and she used to be in the band herself before she left Boise. The Very Most is based in Boise, a fact the band itself finds a bit unlikely, so imagine how the rest of us feel. (Rachel moved to the decidedly more indie-rock-like town of Portland, Oregon, where she now can be found in the band the Parenthetical Girls.)

But I digress. The point is that Rachel, taking over at 1:47, not only holds her own, but converts the entire song into a winner, especially in retrospect. Try it for yourself: once you see where the song ends up, you’ll enjoy the opening half all the more. (Don’t miss the way Rachel’s melody veers from the previous melody of the verse, and be sure to note the whistling that accompanies her: that’s the original melody.) All this is to take nothing whatever away from the three regulars in the band (who create just the right jingly ambiance), and most of all Jeremy Jensen, who is a delightful singer in his own right, spending time here demonstrating how much alike Brian Wilson and Stuart Murdoch (Belle and Sebastian) sound after all. And it is J. Jensen’s inventive pop sensibility that presides over the whole, increasingly wonderful concoction: on top of all the nicely conceived production touches (the album claims to feature some 33 different instruments/sound sources), it was Jeremy, I assume, who knew enough to have Rachel step in exactly when and how she did in the first place.

“Good Fight Fighting” is a song off the band’s second CD, Congratulations Forever, which was self-released in April. MP3 courtesy of the band.

“Wild as Them” – Liz Durrett

Liz Durrett returns to Fingertips with an immediately engaging, slightly off-kilter piece of gently chugging pop, like some lost Fleetwood Mac hit funneled through the Twilight Zone. The lyrics are elusive and strange—“I look for your bones in the woods” is surely one of the more arresting opening lines of recent days (although she may be saying “words”; and it’s still odd). The music is comforting melodically—rolling along without a chorus, featuring a blues-like repetition of each opening refrain—but a touch unhinged instrumentally: guitars squeak, horns gather in increasing multitudes, and some other sounds I can’t quite put my finger on fill in along the way.

Accentuating the F-Mac-ishness is the way Durrett’s mellow alto brings Christine McVie to mind, although somewhat imprecisely. McVie sings with a smoky clarity that Durrett avoids; her voice, although doubletracked, is mixed down a bit. We know she’s singing but the words often elude recognition, adding to the tune’s inscrutable aura.

“Wild as Them” is a song from Durrett’s forthcoming CD, Outside the Gates. The Athens, Ga.-based singer/songwriter has enlisted a spirited crew of fellow Athenians to help out on the record, including members of Olivia Tremor Control, Tin Cup Prophette, and Elf Power, along with Vic Chestnutt, who happens to be Durrett’s uncle. Eric Bachmann (Crooked Fingers, Archers of Loaf) produced and arranged the album, scheduled for release in September on Warm Electronic Recordings (based in Athens too, of course).

“Parachute” – Shugo Tokumaru

     Acrobatic, lighthearted Japanese indie pop with, somehow, the breezy flair of a European art film from the ’60s. I don’t think any of this is in English except for the title word, which comes across, rather charmingly, as “pra-shoo.” And by saying “Japanese indie pop” I really only mean that Tokumaru is from Japan–the music itself exists in a wonderful sort of trans-cultural, trans-spatial limbo that mixes influences and ambiances in that web-fed, 21st-century way that ends up sounding as new as it does familiar, and as familiar as it does new.
     While exhibiting an almost Leo Kottke-like dexterity with the acoustic guitar, Tokumaru possesses a decidedly un-Kottke-like voice: it’s an airy, wide-ranging tenor that is nicely suited to the breezy, nostalgic melody. (For those who don’t know, Leo Kottke is a guitar virtuoso who once, famously, described his singing voice as “geese farts on a foggy day.” Born in Athens, Georgia.) The tinkly, persistent xylophone adds to the vigorous yet delicate landscape.
     “Parachute” is the opening track on Tokumaru’s Exit CD, which was released in Japan last year, and is slated for a U.S. release in September on Almost Gold Records. MP3 via Pitchfork.

“Night Watchman” – Francis and the Lights

They’ve done it again: Brooklyn’s Francis and the Lights have woven enigmatic magic with the barest threads of their minimalist, postmodern funk. The melody is slower this time, but the beat remains the same, sustained by fidgety electronics, fat bass lines, and wonderfully controlled drumming. For this new single, front man Francis Farewell Starlite leaves behind the Prince-like falsetto in favor of his throaty, emotive lower register, once again singing a song that eschews a sense of recognizable structure. Just when you think you’re getting your arms around what’s going on, the thing ends, on a dime. After many listens, I find that I still can’t explain exactly what’s happening here. This strikes me as an appealing thing.

By the way, if you don’t tend to listen to the weekly picks here as a mini mixtape, one after the other, I suggest trying it this week. It’s a spiffy set.

Known for their stirring live performances, Francis and the Lights keep an intriguingly low web profile, although now at least we are offered up a straightforward picture of (I’m assuming) Francis himself. “Night Watchman” is available on the band’s site, and will be on a CD entitled A Modern Promise, to be released at some unspecified time in the, perhaps, near future. The record label, Normative, appears to be the band’s own imprint, and as such has an equally minimalist web site. MP3 via the band.