Israel Nash – LA Lately
Dripping Springs, Texas, sounds much like the kind of town one might dream up solely for the purpose of mentioning it in a British newspaper’s Americana playlist, but I am assured that it is a real and actual place, and furthermore that it is home to Israel Nash. This track, the latest release from his fourth album Silver Season, is just gorgeous: a husky, sad, half-dazed song that carries shades of CSNY and My Morning Jacket.
Bird Dog – The Ocean and the Sea
I’ve been a bit infatuated with this song since I first heard it – the first release from LA’s Bird Dog. Structurally it reminds me a little of Blake Mills, in that it’s far more adventurous than you might at first expect: it opens a little like a Californian Fleet Foxes, builds into something euphoric and golden before scuzzing it all up around the two minute mark. It’s never too pristine, nor too messy, for which some of the credit must surely lie with its producer, James McAlister, who is also the long-standing percussionist for Sufjan Stevens. The band’s first EP, Misty Shrub, will be released in the new year.
Long Beard – Porch
Basically, if you write a song about a porch I will want to hear it. And if you make it as beautiful as this track from New Brunswick’s Long Beard, then I will adore it. Long Beard is Leslie Bear, and this week she released her debut album Sleepwalker (you can hear it right here). It’s a beautiful thing: muted, dreamy, half-asleep songs sung over twitchy and restless guitar and percussion; Yo La Tengo and Galaxie 500 are the most obvious touchstones. Porch remains my favourite: a late-night, lost-love kind of song.
Applewood Road – Applewood Road
One of the things I love about the Australian-raised, British-dwelling musician Emily Barker is the fact that she always seems to be doing something interesting – a new project (Vena Portae) here, a soundtrack there (Wallander, Hec McAdam) there, not to mention the four albums she recorded with the Red Clay Halo and an appearance at the Olympic opening ceremony with Frank Turner. Earlier this year, she released her solo, Toerag Sessions, and now she’s back with another new project, Applewood Road. This one was dreamed up in Nashville, where Barker was attending the Americana music awards, and finds her performing as part of a trio, along with Amy Speace and Amber Rubarth. The video is also worth watching, to see the wonderful marriage of precision and joy in their performance.
Shannon and the Clams – Corvette
I love the way the darkly, distortedly sultry Shannon Shaw sounds on this track from the Oakland-based trio’s fourth album, Gone by Dawn. Though they have earned a reputation as a stonking live act – a party band, out for a garage-rockin’ good time – Gone By Dawn makes quite a departure. This is a break-up record, hurt and raw and feeling rough. So while the retro feel remains there’s a new depth to their material – it’s like listening to doo-wop through too many cherry brandies, a curdled version of American romance.
