Fingertips

“Our Last Martyr” – Dead Heart Bloom

Brisk, friendly, and slightly quirky, “Our Last Martyr” rocks with an unapologetic reverence for classic rock of the early-to-mid-’70s British variety (think Lennon, think Bowie, think Hunter). Front man Boris Skalsky sings, alternately, with an intimate, oddly-accented purr (the verse) and a rousing Ziggy-ish flair (the chorus). Note how the verse is sung with the rhythm section only–just bass and percussion providing an itchy aural skeleton for Skalsky’s distinctive baritone. For that sing-along chorus, the full band kicks in, driven by the ear-catching interplay between a crisp acoustic rhythm guitar front and center and a soaring synth line up on top. The second half of the song is something of a jam session, as guitarist Paul Wood stretches out a bit on electric lead before we’re swept away by a chorus of almost hypnotic “oo-oo-oo” vocals from Skalsky, who can hit the high notes too.

The core of NYC-based Dead Heart Bloom is singer/multi-instrumentalist Skalsky and guitarist Wood; other musicians play when the band performs lives. “Our Last Martyr” is one of five songs on the new Fall In EP, one of a series of EPs scheduled for release this year on the band’s KEI Records label. The band has previously put out two full-length CDs. All songs are available on the band’s web site as free and legal MP3s. Dead Heart Bloom was previously featured on Fingertips in Feb. ’06, and also on the Fingertips: Unwebbed CD, when the band was still more of a solo project for Skalsky.

“History of Love” – Still Corners

Swaying, reverb-laced, and nostalgic in a Julee Cruise/David Lynch sort of way, “History of Love” swirls with a big, chimey dreaminess enhanced by strings (both plucked and bowed) and a soaring organ that all but launches this one into some old-fashioned, Jetsons-like version of outer space.

So, dream pop, yes. But while indie bands aiming in this direction too frequently slide into a murky mush of echo–droning guitars and mixed-down vocals working together to diminish the sense that we are in fact listening to a song–the unsigned British duo Still Corners will have none of that. They get the idea that being atmospheric does not require muddiness. I like how they continually ground their reverberant vibe in concrete sonic reality, whether it’s those plucky strings, the nicely articulated bass, the cymbally drum work, or vocalist Olivia’s breathy, echoey, but distinctly colored singing. Note, too, the care and idiosyncrasy displayed by the song itself–in particular, how we get that crazy-swirly blast of dreamy yearning, without lyrics, in place of an actual chorus.

London-based Still Corners have so far released one evocatively designed six-song EP, entitled Remember Pepper?. That’s where you’ll find “History of Love.” MP3 via Last.fm and the band.

“Spirit of ’95” – Murdocks
     Sunny power pop crossed with something trickier and edgier. I hesitate, however, to use the “punk pop” (or is it “pop punk”?) label, because to me that implies something (sorry to say) dumber and less nuanced that this little two-minute gem. Not that many punk pop bands write in 3/4 time, to begin with. This is no waltz, however–these guys have figured out how to make three-beated measures sound assertive and symmetrical. Punchy verses with an ascending tail alternate with an almost lilting chorus…and that’s more or less the song. The lyrics basically stop less than halfway through; the song has such intriguing momentum one barely notices.
     A lot of “Spirit of ’95″‘s edginess is delivered via singer/guitarist Franklin Morris’s no holds barred singing–he sounds perpetually on the verge of screaming, and yet comes across as warm and musical at the same time. Some of that feeling is generated specifically from the chorus, with its attractive, downward-trending, octave-spanning melody. I like by the way how he then uses a guitar break to give us a nice variation of the same line. That’ll really get it stuck in your head.
     Murdocks are a trio from Austin that have been playing since 2003, although no longer with their original drummer or bass player. “Spirit of ’95” is from the band’s Roar! EP, which was released in April on Surprise Truck Entertainment.

“Zero” – Mark Northfield
     And now for something completely different. Mark Northfield is a British pianist, composer, arranger, and sometime singer who has here taken his classical training and focused it on the production of something almost but not quite resembling a pop song. Beginning quietly, with voice and piano, “Zero” adds guitar, strings, and, eventually, a choir-like array of backing vocals; the piece evolves gently but determinedly towards two climaxes, the first string-driven, contained, and unresolved (roughly 3:08 through 3:25), the second louder, more fervent, and choral (beginning around 5:06).
     Pay attention throughout to the string arrangements, which are expressive but never pushy; the song is half over before he puts the strings center stage, and some of the nicest work comes after their “solo,” when the violins, with restraint, offer high fills between lyrical phrases.
     “Zero” is a song from the CD Ascendant, which Northfield released on his own Substantive Recordings label earlier this year. On eight of the songs, Northfield doesn’t sing himself, employing an assortment of guest vocalists, but on “Zero,” it’s him. An important aspect of the CD is that the nine songs are presented in an uninterrupted flow–as Northfield notes on his web site, the album is “designed to be heard (in a shuffle-free world) from start to finish, with introductions to each track lifting re-arranged fragments from elsewhere on the album to create a more or less continuous soundtrack.” And yet Northfield is of course not unaware of how most people listen to their music in the 21st century; he is kind enough to offer seven of the songs in so-called “chopped” mode on his web site, including “Zero.” Thanks to Owen Duff, himself a Fingertips-featured artist, for the head’s up.