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The Playlist: Americana The Playlist: Americana
(4 months later)
Torres – New SkinTorres – New Skin
Torres is more prosaically known as Mackenzie Scott, a 23-year-old Nashville songwriter who released her hugely impressive debut album early Torres is more prosaically known as Mackenzie Scott, a 23-year-old Nashville songwriter who released her hugely impressive debut album early last year. There’s a startling maturity to her songwriting, a near-bruised ripeness to her voice, and an unexpected hugeness to her sound. While we await the release of her follow-up album, we have this track — unquestionably my most-listened-to song of the past few weeks, which was recorded for Weathervane Music, a non-profit based in Philadephia. Here she’s backed by Sharon Van Etten and members of the War on Drugs and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. It’s actually a wonderfully strange song, sounding both utterly world-weary and yet propelled by a youthful desire to forge an independent identity. “I am a tired woman,” she sings in the nub of this contradiction. “In January I will just be 23.”
last year. There’s a startling maturity to her songwriting, a near-bruised Sharon Van Etten – Your Love Is Killing Me
ripeness to her voice, and an unexpected hugeness to her sound. While we await Torres’s conspirator and long-standing supporter Sharon Van Etten has her own album out this year, of which this track offers a thrilling taste. Van Etten’s gift lies somewhere between the guttural tug of her lyrics and a voice that that is a clinging, smoky thing. Here she sings of the knot and wrench of trying to give up a love you still find compelling: moments of relative calm build swiftly into something wrung out and desperate. “Break my leg so I can’t walk to you,” she begs. “Cut my tongue so I can’t talk to you.” It’s a fevered, engulfing song that deserves repeated listening.
the release of her follow-up album, we have this track — unquestionably my Hiss Golden Messenger – Brother, Do You Know the Road?
most-listened-to song of the past few weeks, which was recorded for Weathervane Though they have been recording for the better part of a decade, North Carolina duo Hiss Golden Messenger have yet to receive the acclaim that should be theirs for the taking. Their songs carry a beautifully crafted weight to them, a quality much in evidence in the slow, methodical, gospel-steeped Brother, Do You Know the Road? While this track has often been played live (it’s worth seeking out this stirring live version, backed by Bowerbirds) but somehow never made its way onto a recording. It has a timeless quality, the gait of Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, but without sounding derivative. With its recent unveiling, the band’s MC Taylor spoke to Uncut magazine, telling of the “green early summer” of its recording and the insects that clustered around the microphones; sounds, qualities it seems possible to hear between the slow tread of its lyrics.
Music, a non-profit based in Philadephia. Here she’s backed by Sharon Van Etten Sylvan Esso – Hey Mami
and members of the War on Drugs and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. It’s actually a wonderfully strange The first time I heard Sylvan Esso’s debut single, Coffee, I listened to it on repeat for days, so thoroughly entranced that it took some while before I looked past the music to see who was actually making it. It transpires that Sylvan Esso – from Durham, North Carolina – are Amelia Meath, of the stunning all-female vocal trio Mountain Man, and Nick Sanborn, late of Megafaun. Here they re-conjure themselves as an electronic duo to create a peculiar, bewitching form of music — a kind of synthesised Americana. In this, their album’s opening track, Meath sings a stripped-back, call-and-response refrain over a wash of noises – shoreline sounds, handclaps, distorted bass. The effect is something akin to modern-day-field-recording-meets-club-hit.
song, sounding both utterly world-weary and yet propelled by a youthful desire Ned Doheny – Get It Up For Love
to forge an independent identity. “I am a tired woman,” she sings in the nub of Given he was a Laurel Canyon contemporary of Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and Don Henley, it’s baffling that Ned Doheny’s greatest success was a song Chaka Khan took to the top of the US R&B charts in 1981. This month, Chicago’s Numero Group releases Separate Oceans, a collection of songs from the first 10 years of Doheny’s songwriting career. It’s a soulful, journeyed, west coast sound, mixing Southern California rock with a muscular funkiness.
this contradiction. “In January I will just be 23.”
Sharon Van Etten –
Your Love Is Killing Me
Torres’s conspirator and long-standing supporter Sharon Van Etten
has her own album out this year, of which this track offers a thrilling taste. Van
Etten’s gift lies somewhere between the guttural tug of her lyrics and a voice
that that is a clinging, smoky thing. Here she sings of the knot and wrench of
trying to give up a love you still find compelling: moments of relative calm build
swiftly into something wrung out and desperate. “Break my leg so I can’t walk
to you,” she begs. “Cut my tongue so I can’t talk to you.” It’s a fevered,
engulfing song that deserves repeated listening.
Hiss Golden Messenger
– Brother, Do You Know the Road?
Though they have been recording for the better part of a
decade, North Carolina duo Hiss Golden Messenger have yet to receive the
acclaim that should be theirs for the taking. Their songs carry a
beautifully crafted weight to them, a quality much in evidence in the slow,
methodical, gospel-steeped Brother, Do You Know the Road? While this track has
often been played live (it’s worth seeking out this stirring live version, backed by Bowerbirds) but somehow never made its way
onto a recording. It has a timeless quality, the gait of Knockin’ on Heaven’s
Door, but without sounding derivative. With its recent unveiling, the band’s MC
Taylor spoke to Uncut magazine, telling of the “green early summer” of its
recording and the insects that clustered around the microphones; sounds, qualities
it seems possible to hear between the slow tread of its lyrics.
Sylvan Esso – Hey
Mami
The first time I heard Sylvan Esso’s debut single, Coffee, I
listened to it on repeat for days, so thoroughly entranced that it took some
while before I looked past the music to see who was actually making it. It transpires that Sylvan Esso – from Durham, North Carolina – are Amelia Meath, of
the stunning all-female vocal trio Mountain Man, and Nick Sanborn, late of Megafaun. Here they re-conjure themselves as an electronic duo to
create a peculiar, bewitching form of music — a kind of synthesised Americana.
In this, their album’s opening track, Meath sings a stripped-back, call-and-response
refrain over a wash of noises – shoreline sounds, handclaps, distorted bass.
The effect is something akin to modern-day-field-recording-meets-club-hit.
Ned Doheny – Get It
Up For Love
Given he was a Laurel Canyon contemporary of Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt
and Don Henley, it’s baffling that Ned Doheny’s greatest success was a song Chaka Khan took to the top of the US R&B charts in 1981. This month,
Chicago’s Numero Group releases Separate Oceans, a collection of songs from the
first 10 years of Doheny’s songwriting career. It’s a soulful, journeyed, west
coast sound, mixing Southern California rock with a muscular funkiness.