Further Listening:

5. Float Away With Slaughter Beach, Dog

Based out of Philadelphia, Slaughter Beach, Dog are a slightly confusingly named group based around the songwriting of former Modern Baseball frontman, Jake Ewald. The band are already well-established with four studio albums and a host of other releases making for a very impressive back catalogue. Having recently moved to a house in the Poconos Mountains, Jake found himself embracing a calmer mind, taking long walks listening to a trio of key influences, Neil Young, Tom Waits and Randy Newman, all of which can be heard on the upcoming album, Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling. The album is due for release this September on Lame-O Records, and this week Slaughter Beach, Dog shared the latest single from it, Float Away.

Described by Jake as, “a heartbreak song”, Float Away explores the idea of, “thinking someone else is doing it to you and then realizing you’re doing it to yourself“. Musically, Jake is quick to praise his bandmates for the interpretation of his acoustic blue-print, “a bonafide rocknroll machine”, writing a “formal reply” to an Elvis Costello quote that, “his gripe with modern rock is that it doesn’t roll anymore”. Whether it’s rolling or rocking Float Away certainly sounds great doing it, the prominent, tightly locked rhythm section providing a base for meandering organs, expansive country-licked guitars and the vocals, courtesy of Jake and the fabulous guest vocalist Erin Rae, a rich soaring counter-point to Jake’s earthier tones. Many albums in he may be, yet it’s hard not to see Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling as the sound of self-discovery, with each record Jake’s songwriting seems to grow, a musician finding where he belongs and making that journey sound every bit as wonderful as the destination.

Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling is out September 22nd via Lame-O Records. For more information on Slaughter Beach, Dog visit https://cryinglaughingwavingsmiling.com/.

4. Margaret Glaspy Is Always Making New Memories

Something of a blog regular, I was slightly shocked to see it has been some seven years since I first wrote about Margaret Glaspy’s music around the release of her frankly genius debut single, You & I. Since then the New York-based Californian has gone on to release two albums, toured the world both solo and with the likes of Spoon and Wilco, and generally gone about winning over ears wherever she goes. With her new album Echo The Diamond set for release next month via ATO Records, this week Margaret shared the latest taster of it, in the shape of new single Memories.

Discussing the track Margaret recalls, “the take you hear is the only one I was able to get through completely…it was a level of vulnerability I’d never gotten on record, and it holds a special place in my heart now“. Memories is a song that lives up to its title, reflecting on grief, the desire to look back on those we’ve lost and the pain often found in doing so, as atop a shuffling guitar and almost jazzy drum rhythm, Margaret sings, “for an hour I forget and then my heart starts paying debts, if I’m alone for a little while I can only see a smile and all those memories”. Despite its deeply personal roots, Memories is also a song that connects, Margaret noting how, “it seems to ricochet in different ways for anyone who hears it“. For Echo The Diamond, Margaret made the deliberate decision to go back to the urgency and immediacy of her earliest recordings, that sense of spontaneity colliding with a musician who has lived a little longer and learnt a little more about the human conditions, well that could just be something magical. Of the record she states, “I want my songs to reveal life for what it is, and to show that it’s that way for everyone“, beautiful bruised reality, in Margaret Glaspy’s capable hands may never have sounded better.

Echo The Diamond is out August 18th via ATO Records. For more information on Margaret Glaspy visit http://margaretglaspy.com/.

3. Go Crazy For Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s New Single

It can be difficult to know what’s left to say when you’re writing about someone as legendary as Will Oldham, aka Bonnie “Prince” Billy. He’s released in the region of twenty-five albums across four decades, been covered by Johnny Cash and Marianne Faithful, had songs written about him by Jeffrey Lewis and even in 2010 appeared in Jackass 3D (surely a career highlight for any budding musician). Most remarkably of all, he keeps churning out genre-defining, critically lauded albums, all while seemingly doing whatever he feels like in any given moment, and probably being able to walk down the street with hardly anyone knowing who on earth he is – it’s the sort of life most artists dream of. His latest offering, Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You is set for release next month, and this week he shared a brand new track from it, Crazy Blue Bells.

I must admit at times I find it hard to keep up with Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s output, it’s not that it isn’t excellent, there’s just so much of it that it doesn’t always cut through the noise, like any old favourite there are days when you find yourself craving something different. Then occasionally, something really leaps out, a timely reminder of what a fabulous songwriter Will Oldham is, and for me, Crazy Blue Bells is a perfect example. Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s music has often in the past gazed inward, yet here more than ever he seems to be preaching to his flock, asking us to rise up as one and sing our way into the flames, “someday, when there’s time to sing a few of us may gather and raise a voice to anything because everything matters”. The song starts with Will alone with his acoustic guitar, then comes an avalanche of melodies, as backing vocals and violins break through like the titular Blue Bells breaking through the frozen spring soil. No secrets are being kept here, Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s message has probably never sounded more straightforward, now gather around the fire and let this great storyteller amaze you once again.

Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You is out August 11th via Domino (UK) / Drag City (US). For more information on Bonnie “Prince” Billy visit https://bonnieprincebilly.bandcamp.com/.

2. Wormboys Are Mostly Still Great

A four-piece band based out of Leeds, Wormboys have always been a distinctly DIY affair ever since they were formed in a bedroom by singer/guitarists Sop Satchwell and Harry Tunnicliffe. Now expanded to their current four-piece lineup, the world last heard from the band back in January with the three-track EP, smalltime. For their next move, the band are teaming up with the Come Play With Me label, sharing their new single, mostly still, as part of the labels current digital series, aiming to support queer artists in the North of England.

Discussing mostly still, bassist Ruth Pearce notes how like much of Wormboys’ music the track touches, “on feelings of discomfort but mostly still end up somewhere assertive and hopeful”. The track finds Wormboys at perhaps their most melodic, recalling the likes of Lomelda or Boy Scouts as wiry guitars meet crashing drums and clipped, lilting vocals. Lyrically, this song isn’t one of sweeping melodramas, more the tiny moments that make our skin crawl or our hearts leap, as they sing “you dance next to me, and I’ll stand mostly still”, before being engulfed in a swell of guitars. Noisy and sweet, dreamy and driving, Wormboys are a contradiction in all the best ways and a band more than ready to make their mark.

mostly still is out now via Come Play With Me. For more information on Wormboys visit https://linktr.ee/wormboys.

1. Jordan Moser’s Memorable New Single

Something of a polymath, Southern California native Jordan Moser is a trained ballet dancer, choreographer, composer and film-maker, using those skills both for his day job at Ballet Austin, his work on various environmental campaigns and most recently working with Pussy Riot on the performance art film Putin’s Ashes. Alongside all those other interests, Jordan also has a way with a folk song, as showcased on his 2019 debut album, Long Night, recorded with Molly Burch and released via the ever-wonderful Keeled Scales label. Four years on, Jordan is set to return later this month with a new record, PERIL, which he further previewed this week with a new single, Memory Palace.

Recorded in collaboration with songwriter Natalie Jane Hill, Memory Palace showcases a somewhat different side of Jordan’s songwriting leaning into his quieter and more contemplative side on a track Jodan describes as, “a prayer for healing internal and external”, written, “in this time of ecocide and extinction metaphors from nature become literal“. Natalie recalls the recording of the track, noting how, “life was buzzing that day in the hill country, but this song sort of sprinkled through the noise and gave a sense of peace“. That sense of peace is evident listening to the finished product, Jordan and Natalie’s vocals entwining atop a gently wandering acoustic guitar, as the lyrics go searching for optimism both for the individual and the world at large, “I’m building a memory palace, hoping to never forget, there are so many names for the flowers and futures to be salvaged yet”. PERIL might be a record with all the fears you’d expect from that title, but it isn’t a hopeless one, as Natalie put it, “there’s a sweet justice to opening your eyes to what’s in front of you“, PERIL knows we’re a species in trouble, but we’re not quite done yet.

PERIL is out July 28th via Keeled Scales. For more information on Jordan Moser visit https://www.jordan-moser.com/.

Header photo is Jordan Moser by Jen Rachid.