annie williams: midnight window

Annie Williams - Nevermind

Midnight Window came out back in November, as a double release with Annie Williams‘ other EP This Mountain. It’s taken me this long to write about it, because I am a terrible person. Just kidding! I was moving into a new house and stuff and… Also, um, I sort of forgot about it?

Oh no! That was a harsh way of putting it. Let’s just say, it took a while for the music to find me…

Picture it. Beverly, MA. December 2011. I’m rushing to the train on a particularly chilly day, shivering with every damn footstep, and then a song called “Cold” pops up on my iPod. I stop dead in my tracks. There was something about this singer’s voice that spoke to my soul. It said, “Hey soul, what’s up!?!? I’m going to speak to you right now.”

It’s always nice, in a post-American Idol world, to come across a vocalist who doesn’t need to belt/wail/shout to convey his or her emotions. Williams has remarkable control over her pipes, allowing her to projects a certain vulnerability which truly brings her tracks to life.

“Nevermind” is a personal favorite of mine. It reminds me a bit of Jenny Lewis‘ Rabbit Furcoat album, with particular nods to the light country stomp of “The Charging Sky”.

If that last sentence made no sense to you, listen above anyways! Then, if you hate it, you can speak to my soul and say, “Hey soul, what’s up!?!? That thing that spoke to you didn’t speak to me. You’re the worst soul ever… J/Kzzz! I’m not trying to be rude. I love you like a love song.”

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woodpigeon: for paolo

Woodpigeon - For Paolo

“For Woodpigeon songwriter Mark Andrew Hamilton, For Paolo was inspired by his parents, the cassette tapes they played on long, family drives across the prairies of Canada.”

This is such a beautiful concept to build an EP around. As common as it is for musicians to refer to their parents’ old records as inspiration, there’s something refreshing about building a project around the music you were forced to listen to, whether you enjoyed it or not.

Most folks within my generation have been in that position where we’ve rolled our eyes at our mother or father, as they popped one of their “oldies” tapes into the cassette deck. Those drives would be torturous! You’d find yourself sitting there in the backseat, listening to something “lame” by Carole King, Fleetwood Mac or any variety of girly one-hit wonders (all of which are listed as influences for this release).

Yet, once you hit adulthood, each of these songs took on a different meaning. They transformed from oldies into “classics”. They served as a reminder to the carefree days of your childhood. They, as Hamilton puts it, became a part of your “musical DNA”.

For this reason in particular, Woodpigeon‘s For Paolo struck a chord with me. Though I’m reluctant to project my own family’s soundtrack onto it, I can’t help myself from hearing bits of Simon & Garfunkel or Guns ‘N’ Roses “November Rain” within this set. I’m fully aware that nobody else would hear these things. Nobody. However, this EP is so deeply routed in nostalgia that, if you give it a chance, you’ll find yourself doing the same thing.

Check out the title track “For Paolo” above, or listen to the full project on Bandcamp.

Photo credit: Grateful Grapefruit

swiftumz

Swiftumz - More Than Sleep
Swiftumz - 4EVA

A month ago, our neighbors invited us over to decorate cookies. This is the type of invitation you can’t turn down during the holiday season. It should go on the record, however, that I never once considered turning down said invitation. Our neighbors are quite lovely people, and… Well, tastiness! Gingerbread all UP in my face. You know the drill.

As the story goes, a few last-minute errands resulted in my frantic (yet fashionably) late arrival. I stumbled over to their doorway thinking I was the most terrible person in the world, only to realize that I was earlier than nearly every other guest. Audible sigh of relief, I uttered!

The early arrival actually turned out to be a good thing, in multiple respects. For starters, I got first crack at the snack table. There were less people to introduce myself to. More bonding time with my neighbors… But, perhaps most importantly, I was able to discover my poor frosting skills before the true artistes arrived.

For real, guys! Decorating cookies is serious business. There was a woman who pimped out her gingerbread-lady in a pair rainbow panties, inspired by Rihanna‘s wardrobe on the Loud tour. I tried to pretend I was as cool as her by creating a Robyn-inspired cookie. Long story short, It wound up having unintentionally inappropriate nipples. I was not as cool as her.

It wasn’t until I made one particular cookie (who we’ll refer to as “Sad Sadie“) that I truly felt accomplished. Though she wore a brightly colored outfit, her sugary lips were (accidentally) turned down into a frown. She was miserable. And I loved her.

Sad Sadie became the companion piece for “Optimistic Girl“, a character developed by my neighbor. The concept was pretty simple. As response to anything remotely negative, Optimistic Girl would respond in her trademark high-pitched voice, letting you know that everything will be okay.

At this time in the post, you’re probably wondering—what does any of this have to do with Swiftumz? Rest assured, the answer is coming soon!

You see, “More Than Sleep” is the Sad Sadie of breakup jams. The narrator’s so ridden with self-deprecation and longing that he’s resorted to saying things like “I love her even more than I hate myself”. It’s kind of pathetic.

That is, until we get to “4EVA”, on which the Optimistic Girl inside our narrator’s brain unleashes her opinion on this matter. “Sure, there were bad times,” she says. “But why don’t you focus on the good times! The fun times! You’ll always have those, and nobody can take them away from you!”

In the context of Swiftumz’s debut album Don’t Trip, these two songs balance one another out to some point of, dare I say, sanity. It’s a magical pairing. Magical, I tell you!

 

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