4/24/15

This new Shakey Graves record is really something - I missed them when they were in town last wweek and that's a damn shame, because their sound is old-school blues at the very heart of it, dressed up in harmonies and trendy sounds for decoration. I love this record, "Nobody's Fool," as much as I love the fact this guy has been around for a few years, under the radar in Austin, and so it is made up of rarities and B-sides and one-offs, a delightful little taste test of his sound. His trademark is a suitcase kickdrum, which he fashioned himself and is odd to look at it and apparently pretty cool. I am not one to be sold on gimmicks, but his sound is just perfect for a chilly start to spring, hints of growth and green checkered among the grey.

Alejandro Rose-Garcia has a voice straight out of the south, grizzled and rough but able to glide across octaves as if on ice, or drunk. It makes me want to bury myself in Americana songs from now until the end of time, surround myself with sunshine and strings and tepid sadness.

This is one of my favorites so far - I can't find a solo video for it, but it's worth jumping the 23-minute mark to hear the simpler side of Shakey Graves:

"Dear friend of the girl i once dated
I hated the sound of her voice
and she left me no choice
I would rampantly tear all the
frames from the wall
just to make her remember
our life in the fall

So miss me once in a blue moon
if I don't return soon
I think there's something worth loving in me.

But I run from the touch of a loved one,
I could never live patiently.

Dear friend of the female persuasion
on lonely rotation through all of the boys in the town
I would instantly answer the phone if you call
just to make me remember the point of it all.

You miss me once in a blue moon
if I don't return soon
I think there's something worth leaving in me

but I run from the touch of a loved one
you could never love patiently
you could never love patiently
you could never love patiently
you could never love patiently

Yeah miss me once in a blue moon
if I don't return soon
I think there's something worth loving in me

but I run from the touch of a loved one
I could never live patiently."
~Love, Patiently
Shakey Graves, Nobody's Fool