Showing posts with label The Civil Wars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Civil Wars. Show all posts
Monday, May 14, 2012
5/14/12
One of the prettiest songs about one of the worst feelings. I've felt it before. I hope I never feel it again.
Maybe I'm just in a haze lately, but all that seems to stir me is loud pop punk, mixes from high school or really sad folk. Or maybe that's just how I always am, and I'm trying to flatter myself. But yeah, this song, cut and dry. The pangs of moving on, emphasized in chromatic notes, gorgeous harmony and the wavering-just-so, barely-there-vibrato of the amazing Joy Williams. Her voice after the second chorus sends chills through my entire body that just make me want to make music, or collapse and never get up until someone I love picks me up. Maybe both.
"Haven't you seen me sleep walking?
'Cause I've been holding your hand
Haven't you noticed me drifting?
Oh, let me tell you, I am
Tell me it's nothing
Try to convince me
That I'm not drowning
Oh let me tell you, I am
Please, please tell me you know
I've got to let you go
I can't help falling
Out of love with you
Why am I feeling so guilty?
Why am I holding my breath?
Worry 'bout everyone but me
I just keep losing myself
Tell me it's nothing
Try to convince me
That I'm not drowning
Oh let me tell you, I am
Please, please tell me you know
I've got to let you go
I can't help falling
Out of love with you
Won't you read my mind?
Don't you make me lie here
And die here
Please, please tell me you know
I've got to let you go
I can't help falling
Out of love with you"
~Falling
The Civil Wars, Barton Hollow
I don't want to give up the best love I've ever had. But do you have to give up something you love to get the rest of the world? How do you know what's worth holding onto? I don't think you ever do...rather I think that's a decision you make for yourself...but, sometimes, what you're holding onto is slipping away and there's nothing you can do but let it happen, and feel the pain as you feel your heart change.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
2/22/11
O hey, blog, sorry I've been crazy-busy lately. This was in my YouTube recs today and though I was uncertain at first, it won me over in the first chorus.
I mean, you take my favorite Smashing Pumpkins song and throw in a couple of my new harmonic idols, and yeah, I'll listen to this seven times today. As I learn more "sacreligious" covers myself, I realize the importance of making it your own, especially when you're stripping something down the acoustic. The Civil Wars do that wonderfully, layering their trademark sound over the basic melody of what is a chilling, chilling song.
I didn't even miss the gong. Well, maybe a little.
I mean, you take my favorite Smashing Pumpkins song and throw in a couple of my new harmonic idols, and yeah, I'll listen to this seven times today. As I learn more "sacreligious" covers myself, I realize the importance of making it your own, especially when you're stripping something down the acoustic. The Civil Wars do that wonderfully, layering their trademark sound over the basic melody of what is a chilling, chilling song.
I didn't even miss the gong. Well, maybe a little.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
12/28/11
Heart. Floor. Broken.
"You only know what I want you to
I know everything you don't want me to
Oh your mouth is poison, your mouth is wine
You think your dreams are the same as mine
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
I always will
I wish you'd hold me when I turn my back
The less I give the more I get back
Oh your hands can heal, your hands can bruise
I don't have a choise but I'd still choose you
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
I always will"
~Poison & Wine
The Civil Wars, Barton Hollow
With words this strong, you don't need many of them. True ballads tell stories, and often songwriters take this out to six or seven minutes of several verses and bridges, naming characters and time and places. This is a love song, for that long-lost yet still-here type of love. I cannot stop listening/playing it (for the record -- it's capo 6, I think).
On a different note, this album, "Barton Hollow," quickly captured my heart. It's three parts Americana, one part pop-folk. The match-up of incredible harmonies and value in simplicity seem fit from a 19th century midwest farm, but purity, drama and honesty create a lyrical quality no era can avoid. "Poison & Wine" is a radio-bred tune, to be sure, but "I've Got This Friend" and "Forget Me Not" almost surely grew up drinking midday sweet tea on Tennessee plantations.
"You only know what I want you to
I know everything you don't want me to
Oh your mouth is poison, your mouth is wine
You think your dreams are the same as mine
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
I always will
I wish you'd hold me when I turn my back
The less I give the more I get back
Oh your hands can heal, your hands can bruise
I don't have a choise but I'd still choose you
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
Oh I don't love you but I always will
I always will"
~Poison & Wine
The Civil Wars, Barton Hollow
With words this strong, you don't need many of them. True ballads tell stories, and often songwriters take this out to six or seven minutes of several verses and bridges, naming characters and time and places. This is a love song, for that long-lost yet still-here type of love. I cannot stop listening/playing it (for the record -- it's capo 6, I think).
On a different note, this album, "Barton Hollow," quickly captured my heart. It's three parts Americana, one part pop-folk. The match-up of incredible harmonies and value in simplicity seem fit from a 19th century midwest farm, but purity, drama and honesty create a lyrical quality no era can avoid. "Poison & Wine" is a radio-bred tune, to be sure, but "I've Got This Friend" and "Forget Me Not" almost surely grew up drinking midday sweet tea on Tennessee plantations.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
12/27/11
My Top 10 Favorite Albums in 2011
I'm hesitant to call this a "best of the year" list, because best is a very subject term. So, here are my favorites:
10)Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
They still got it. No lie. I've seen enough live performances from this album to know that NO one can rock a room like the Foos. "Walk" is likely one of the best mainstream rock songs that came out this year, and Dave Grohl & co. continue to make their messages known and connect with society. Even thought "Wasting Light" may not have the staying power of their other catalog titles, the band still sure does.
9)Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math
A band we hadn't heard from in a minute came back with power, with perspective and punch. Take a listen to the title track, or "Apprehension" and you'll see that Andy Hull pours out his heart like it's made of cheap vodka. True, that's the biographical text we've come to know and love from this band, but this time around in it's a new glaze. Emo chords are traded in for darker, twisted sounds, and there's as much layering as there is stripped-down, laid-bare musings.
8)The Dangerous Summer - War Paint
This band captured my heart early in the year when I discovered "Reach for the Sun," and when their sophomore "War Paint" came out, the band quickly became the soundtrack to my summer. Loss, redemption, struggle, rinse, repeat. The title track is a rallying call to rise above, "Work in Progress" is a retreat from the world. Album closer "Waves" could make you conquer the world, while reminding your loved ones to do the same.
7)Bon Iver - Bon Iver
It had been too long since "For Emma, Forever Ago" and we needed to hear from Bon Iver again. We did, this fall, and the self-titled album captures a place that feels snowy, warm, effervescent. "Minnesota, WI" is just one example of how production should enhance instrumentation, not bury it, and "Towers" clips along almost like an Old West saloon song, maybe one that mated with binary. I dig the style.
6) The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
I discovered the Welch trio on Pandora around the same time this album came out and holy shit was I blown away. Shoegazey rock? Big guitars? Chick singer? Count me in! Don't let the radio edit of "Whirring" fool you - these guys know their riffs, they know their layers, and they know how to blow your mind.
5)Ryan Adams - Ashes and Fire
One of my most-anticipated albums of 2011, and it didn't let me down a drop. Ryan is back with a pillow-soft smile, but the beat-up, broke-down desperation lives on. "Lucky Now" will hopefully be played on Grey's Anatomy when the second half of this season airs. If I'm lucky. Songs like "Dirty Rain," "Save Me" and the title track show that Ryan Adams is a master of the ballad formula in its truest sense, and with this album he's shown us no age, illness, marriage or critique will keep him from developing his talents.
4)Wilco - The Whole Love
Wilco is an awesome band. We knew this, we knew this because of "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," we knew this because of "Sky Blue Sky" but Jeff Tweedy continues to come up with some of the catchiest, sly-ist little songs I've ever heard. "Born Alone" is the type of song that makes me want to dye my hair dirty blonde, wear daisies behind my ears and hop in a pick-up owned by a guy with just the right amount of stubble on his cheeks. This album should be enough to make this band triumphantly mainstream, but for some reason I still feel like they are kind of under everyone's radar. Maybe that's where they want to be.
3)The Decemberists - The King is Dead
"Don't Carry it All" is, in my opinion, the song that sums up where we need to go as a society. And for that, I give them extreme props. While it's lacking a strict storyline, you know what this record is about all the same and I think that's a strength. Instead of a script, characters and drama, we have scenes and messages. I also know that "Down by the Water" was overplayed like a motherfucker on indie radio, so we can only assume that means The Decemberists, with this release, are cemented in indie history. Applause.
2)Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
"What good is it to sing helplessness blues?/Why should I wait for anyone else?" If you're looking for political philosophy musings as you yearn for an apple orchard to run through, Fleet Foxes will certainly soothe your desires. This is a band who I respected and enjoyed, and that's only been furthered by this record. It rises, peaks and falls like an orchestra might, uncovering safeness in smallness and boldness in triumph.
1)The Wonder Years - Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing
Just when I thought I was maturing out of pop punk, The Wonder Years came along and gave me a reason to stay. I was familiar with a few songs from their last release, "The Upsides," and picked up "Suburbia" on a whim 'cause I liked the title. I am a little amazed at the story they've woven through this record. You can see the sad town, you can feel the bitter winter, and you can hear the kids partying in backyards late at night. The opening track is an anthem for recovery from the toughest falls, the longest stretches of self-deprecating doubt. "And Now I'm Nothing" is acceptance, surrender to the now and the way it is. In between, "I Won't Say the Lord's Prayer" is an atheist seeking not answers but apathy, and "I've Given You All" is my favorite song I've ever heard about a homeless man. If you were about to write off the genre, don't, because the honesty is still there. This is the record for those who want to get out of this town and start again, even if there's no way out yet.
Honorable mentions to the following albums which I enjoy but have not listened to thoroughly enough to rank against the others: The Black Keys - El Camino; The Civil Wars - Barton Hallow; Laura Marling - A Creature I Do Not Know; Dia Frampton - Red.
EDIT: Aw shit I forgot about Taking Back Sunday. With John Nolan! I missed them in concert 'cause my car died and I was kind of homeless for a couple days. But good record, blasted it many times on 5 and 20 in Canandaigua.
EDIT 2: Iron and Wine! I suck at this.
I'm hesitant to call this a "best of the year" list, because best is a very subject term. So, here are my favorites:
10)Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
They still got it. No lie. I've seen enough live performances from this album to know that NO one can rock a room like the Foos. "Walk" is likely one of the best mainstream rock songs that came out this year, and Dave Grohl & co. continue to make their messages known and connect with society. Even thought "Wasting Light" may not have the staying power of their other catalog titles, the band still sure does.
9)Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math
A band we hadn't heard from in a minute came back with power, with perspective and punch. Take a listen to the title track, or "Apprehension" and you'll see that Andy Hull pours out his heart like it's made of cheap vodka. True, that's the biographical text we've come to know and love from this band, but this time around in it's a new glaze. Emo chords are traded in for darker, twisted sounds, and there's as much layering as there is stripped-down, laid-bare musings.
8)The Dangerous Summer - War Paint
This band captured my heart early in the year when I discovered "Reach for the Sun," and when their sophomore "War Paint" came out, the band quickly became the soundtrack to my summer. Loss, redemption, struggle, rinse, repeat. The title track is a rallying call to rise above, "Work in Progress" is a retreat from the world. Album closer "Waves" could make you conquer the world, while reminding your loved ones to do the same.
7)Bon Iver - Bon Iver
It had been too long since "For Emma, Forever Ago" and we needed to hear from Bon Iver again. We did, this fall, and the self-titled album captures a place that feels snowy, warm, effervescent. "Minnesota, WI" is just one example of how production should enhance instrumentation, not bury it, and "Towers" clips along almost like an Old West saloon song, maybe one that mated with binary. I dig the style.
6) The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
I discovered the Welch trio on Pandora around the same time this album came out and holy shit was I blown away. Shoegazey rock? Big guitars? Chick singer? Count me in! Don't let the radio edit of "Whirring" fool you - these guys know their riffs, they know their layers, and they know how to blow your mind.
5)Ryan Adams - Ashes and Fire
One of my most-anticipated albums of 2011, and it didn't let me down a drop. Ryan is back with a pillow-soft smile, but the beat-up, broke-down desperation lives on. "Lucky Now" will hopefully be played on Grey's Anatomy when the second half of this season airs. If I'm lucky. Songs like "Dirty Rain," "Save Me" and the title track show that Ryan Adams is a master of the ballad formula in its truest sense, and with this album he's shown us no age, illness, marriage or critique will keep him from developing his talents.
4)Wilco - The Whole Love
Wilco is an awesome band. We knew this, we knew this because of "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," we knew this because of "Sky Blue Sky" but Jeff Tweedy continues to come up with some of the catchiest, sly-ist little songs I've ever heard. "Born Alone" is the type of song that makes me want to dye my hair dirty blonde, wear daisies behind my ears and hop in a pick-up owned by a guy with just the right amount of stubble on his cheeks. This album should be enough to make this band triumphantly mainstream, but for some reason I still feel like they are kind of under everyone's radar. Maybe that's where they want to be.
3)The Decemberists - The King is Dead
"Don't Carry it All" is, in my opinion, the song that sums up where we need to go as a society. And for that, I give them extreme props. While it's lacking a strict storyline, you know what this record is about all the same and I think that's a strength. Instead of a script, characters and drama, we have scenes and messages. I also know that "Down by the Water" was overplayed like a motherfucker on indie radio, so we can only assume that means The Decemberists, with this release, are cemented in indie history. Applause.
2)Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
"What good is it to sing helplessness blues?/Why should I wait for anyone else?" If you're looking for political philosophy musings as you yearn for an apple orchard to run through, Fleet Foxes will certainly soothe your desires. This is a band who I respected and enjoyed, and that's only been furthered by this record. It rises, peaks and falls like an orchestra might, uncovering safeness in smallness and boldness in triumph.
1)The Wonder Years - Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing
Just when I thought I was maturing out of pop punk, The Wonder Years came along and gave me a reason to stay. I was familiar with a few songs from their last release, "The Upsides," and picked up "Suburbia" on a whim 'cause I liked the title. I am a little amazed at the story they've woven through this record. You can see the sad town, you can feel the bitter winter, and you can hear the kids partying in backyards late at night. The opening track is an anthem for recovery from the toughest falls, the longest stretches of self-deprecating doubt. "And Now I'm Nothing" is acceptance, surrender to the now and the way it is. In between, "I Won't Say the Lord's Prayer" is an atheist seeking not answers but apathy, and "I've Given You All" is my favorite song I've ever heard about a homeless man. If you were about to write off the genre, don't, because the honesty is still there. This is the record for those who want to get out of this town and start again, even if there's no way out yet.
Honorable mentions to the following albums which I enjoy but have not listened to thoroughly enough to rank against the others: The Black Keys - El Camino; The Civil Wars - Barton Hallow; Laura Marling - A Creature I Do Not Know; Dia Frampton - Red.
EDIT: Aw shit I forgot about Taking Back Sunday. With John Nolan! I missed them in concert 'cause my car died and I was kind of homeless for a couple days. But good record, blasted it many times on 5 and 20 in Canandaigua.
EDIT 2: Iron and Wine! I suck at this.
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