“…It’s supposed to snow tonight,
I hope the forecast is right,
cos in the morning i sleep in till i like,
and if it snowed outside it would feel so nice in here.”
Yes, onceagain on youcrazydreamers, Chris Garneau ! I’ve received couple days ago, one of his rare newsletters announcing some European dates (Uk, Belgium Denmark, Spain and… France). I’m still awaiting for the Nantes SOY festival to confirm his venue on the 1st of November ! I should be around at that time for a full week of a delicate mix of holidays/business in my old South Britany : I won’t miss this opportunity !
Chris Garneau “In the Afternoon” @ Théâtre Bastille (Paris)
Outside temperature are painfully reaching the 10° (celsius) in the afternoon, starting from a low 4° in the morning : an overlook on a yearly calendar.. here we are : winter knocking at the door ! So it’s been a busy time… many stuff to deal with, preparing everybody before the first snow falls…
Excuses. These are only excuses for posting a so short article about an artist who had released about 7 albums ! But excuses as a transition : before hibernation, I need WARM music to enjoy along a peaceful sitting by the wood-stoven light ! And Forest Sun is the one that match my quest.
Teased by Sean Hayes appearance on the song ‘Queen Anne’s Lace’, I’ve bought ‘Harlequin Goodnight’ on cdbaby.com earlier this summer and the full album is still shining. And I bet the Californian songwriter will be a long-term company during these coming months as his previous releases are on my never-ending-wish-list…
Autumn has come to soon ? I’ve got a solution… a one album-trip to Australia. It’s been a while, since ‘To The Dogs or Whoever‘ blog has stopped bringing me its regular dose of Australian music, that I didn’t receive any input from the land down-under.
A moon on an album cover ; nothing more, nothing else, I was a click away to discover the most brilliant EP this year hold so far. Phillip Bracken is a young - at least in music, so few information is available about him on the net - a young singer from New South Wales.
Beyond the first calm acoustic tags emerging on a primary listening, this short (i’m just eagerly awaiting for a full length) but intense 5 tracks collection revealed a powerful and hypnotic songwriting. For sure, Phillip’s brilliant and unique vocal is a major instrument in this beauiful delivering. I’m also totally seduced by the beauty of his compositions : simple - pure - and perfectly arranged.
With songs format which are mostly exceeding the standard, this album is an invitation for a peaceful break… and so residing one of its prowess : peaceful and contemplative but you’ll be surprised murmuring on ‘The Boy and the Sickle’ and ‘Ishmael’ is simply irresistible for your hands to be clapped, foot-taping later - even dancing for sure ! Mesmerizing.
If you need comparisons, the likes of Ben Harper, Nick Drake, Doug Burr or Josh Garrels (for both evocative guitars and warm voice) could be cited. But be sure, you will find none of those afore mentioned listening to Phillip Bracken ; none of those, but a highly dose of unique emotions. Soon to be yours !
For a debut, it’s a monument ! Such a major act won’t be unpunished ; my curisoty, once again, pushed me to contact Phillip for an interview : an opportunity to discover this promising talent. Enjoy his music while reading his anwsers.
YCD : Hello Phillip, how’s it going down-under ? Phillip Bracken : Really well. I’ve been living in a small coastal town for the last few months and I really like the energy here.
YCD : Before asking any further question, One is teasing my curisity : Tranquil Dwarf, what does it mean ? Phillip Bracken : It was going to be a moniker until I decided that my own name was good enough. To abbreviate the story the name came from a t.v show. I adjusted it to give it more irony and I guess for something for me to hide behind as well.
YCD : Would you mind telling us your story about music ? Phillip Bracken : I think we all have something we’re passionate about and that we feel a connection with. Music has always been the companion that accepts and understands all my moods. I’ve always enjoyed singing and writing as separate elements but I didn’t start taking guitar more seriously until a few years ago.
YCD : ‘Everything Looks Better in Candlelight’ is your first release. How did you finally decide to merge your songs into this dense collection and bring it to an audience ? Phillip Bracken : I wanted something to help myself be heard, remembered after gigs but something more complete than a demo. I was introduced to an amazing musician named Peter Northcote who gave me a nudge. Initially I wanted to record more songs but Pete and a couple of others told me to be patient and just put out five. We recorded the ep in his studio.
YCD : I have played ‘The Boy and Sickle’ at least a hundred times in these last 15 days… what’s your recipe for creating such a flowing song ? Phillip Bracken : That’s so great to hear. I’m not sure that I have a recipe or set method in the way I write. Sometimes the lyrics come first and at others it’s the music which was the scenario for this song. Finger-picking is also something that feels natural to me.
YCD : Suppose, that you have been condemned to spend a full year on an isolated island. Allowing to bring with you a single object which would you choose : a book or you guitar ? Phillip Bracken : Tough one. Probably a book and I would create an instrument out of coconuts and banana leaves.
YCD : Is there a song you wish you had written ? Phillip Bracken : I like the idea of going largely unnoticed and developing an underground following so something like Sugarman by Rodriguez.
YCD : If you could share a stage with any band or artist who would you choose and why ? Phillip Bracken : Sigur Ros. I saw them play recently and they were completely absorbing as much to the eye as ear. They looked totally lost in their instruments and came across as quite humble and unassuming.
YCD : Any other projects for the coming months, a first full length ? Phillip Bracken : I’m launching my ep in November in Sydney. Other than that I want to play more gigs and improve myself musically. I’d like to do a full-length at some point but it might still be a little way a way.
I first briefly mentioned The Sumner brothers when I wrote about The Wood brothers on this blog here. From British Columbia they have just released their first album In the garage available here which they kindly sent me last week. A band that really wear their hearts on their sleeve especially on the track both back, a song about wanting his late father back in his life but also on the track Pain where the first line “better look over what I got cause it won’t last long” makes you immediately stop and listen. It’s not all doom and gloom though as they start off the album with a banjo led cover of a Stompin Tom Connors track called Luke’s guitar then straight into Girl in the window which is a footstomping folk blues track with Bob Sumner screaming the vocals. They have you smiling and singing along one minute then break your heart the next. Like The Felice Brothers before them I get the feeling a lot of these tracks are just one take with any mistakes just left in giving the whole album a really genuine organic feel to it. Throw in another four covers, A storming version of Johnny Cash’s Folsom prison blues, a live version of Dylan’s I was young when I left home, the folk gospel Carter family song The rock where Moses stood and my personal favourite, Sleepy John Estes‘ Good place to go, now that’s the blues. Somehow you just pick up that these guys are the genuine article, no bullshit, just straight up rootsy country/folk/footstomping blues at it’s raw organic best.
R.C Joseph wrote the following about them.
“Their music is about light, though it is not afraid to explore the dark. Their music is about hope, but it does not ignore the despair. It’s a mournful Johnny Cash, a repentant Willie Nelson, a reflective Stompin Tom. It’s the power of boozy sincerity and hopped-up honesty, and that, brothers and sisters, I can get behind”
I think I can too.
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Another great reason to be as enthusiastic as Laura for this promising October Month is the forthcoming performance of Holcombe Waller. It’s been about two months, I’m exchanging some mails with this Portland based songwriter, requesting demos and asking for an interview. Following a kind message (review and interviews will come soon), I’ve received this announcement :
Dear world,
While insanity looms in the political arena and international markets crumble around us, let me invite you to a wonderful evening of music and video and light and ideas debuting in just two short weeks in Seattle.
“Into the Dark Unknown: The Hope Chest” is an original music theater performance that I have written about how we find hope in hopeless situations. It’s about transformation, and how we struggle with change - in ourselves and in the world around us. And, it’s about moving boxes, storage facilities, and of course, crushes on sexy people and long walks on the beach.
Funded and commissioned by a list of fabulous organizations you can read about on the project summary page here, “Into the Dark Unknown: The Hope Chest” represents the largest theatrical production I’ve ever created, incorporating contributions and feedback from a list of talented theatrical designers, artistic mentors, and a litany of life experiences both shitty and epiphanic. It is the traveling performance work to which my next album, “Into the Dark Unknown,” has merely become the companion piece (and yes, we’re working on it so announcements are forthcoming).
The show is October 2, 3 and 4 at 8pm at the lovely On the Boards (one of the commissioners). Thursday night we’ll have an after party mixer at the bar below the theater; Friday night we’ll have a post-show Q & A; Saturday night I’m having a raucous closing-night party at The Cuff.
If you’re in Seattle, please join us. If you’re in Portland, find that couch to crash on and come on up, we’re all going. For the rest of the world, please do forward this letter along to your friends. Reserving tickets is highly recommended:
You can read more about the show on On The Boards’ website. In 2009 it will be coming to New York, San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver BC, and hopefully other US and European destinations, so stay tuned for all that.
[...]
With love, from the grind,
Fans of Holcombe Waller will surely forgive me the easiness of the copy/paste use- indeed they’re no longer reading this post but are already on the above booking link. So, If you’re still reading my approximate English, it seems that you’re not already addicted to Mr Waller musical universe. Please consider as an immediate purchase his unique available album on the e-market : Trouble Times released in 2005 - if you had the opportunity to have found his two previous collections, drop me a mail ! This album is in my library for 2 months and his ranking is already reaching my top ten !
With an amazing four octave vocal range, Holcombe Waller is delivering his visions with poetry on some haunting melodies. Sometimes organic, sometimes acoustic, his tunes are beautifully crafted with the addition of some sweet electronic arrangements which deserved his compositions, comparisons with Bjork’s sound. Also compared to Morissey ( especially cited for teasing my friend Geordie), Peter Murphy and Jeff Buckley by Performing Songwriter, Waller’s writing seems to be a never-ending dense creative process blending elements of pop, jazz and folk, giving you the opportunity to travel his various musicscapes. A unique experience. Stop Talking. Here are the two tracks i’ve selected for you : ‘Literally the End of the World’ from Trouble Times and a live version of the forthcoming title album : Into The Dark Unknown. Enjoy.
Holcombe Waller singing a Jacques Brel song “Ces Gens Là”
at the work-in-progress performance of “Into the Dark Unknown: The Hope Chest”
at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s Time-Based Arts Festival, September 2007, in Portland, Oregon USA
One of the highlights for me from this years end of the road festival was Essie Jain. Since i purchased her first album we made this ourselves last year I have been trying to keep an eye on her but didn’t actually realise she was playing at the festival until i got there. A captivating live performer, her minimal chamber folk really comes to life. She plays piano and guitar and has a rather haunting but beautiful sounding voice. Her new album, The Inbetween follows on rather nicely from her first with it’s intimacy and frailty and with some very delicate strings and horns too which are just enough to maintain the rather spooky folk sound that she’s created for herself. Not an album you would stick on when friends visit for dinner, this is definitely an album you put on while you are on your own, submerge yourself in it as some of the lyrics are stunning. I think she’s a serious talent in the making and will keep an even closer eye on her from now on. She has been compared to the likes of Sandy Denny and Vashti Bunyan but I think that’s mainly due to her singing style rather than her music. Although born and raised in London she is now based in New York and is on the Ba Da bing label in the U.S and the leaf label for the rest of the world. Enjoy.
I’ve been a fan of Denison Witmer for a few years now. I was completely blown away and inspired spiritually by his music. During a time in my life where I was going through a difficult situation, he recommended a read a book that helped me get through it. ( Book of My Nights ) It’s hard to believe it’s been three years since then. If you’ve never heard of Denison Witmer I highly recommend you pick up “Are you a Dreamer?” album first.
NEW SONG - BEAUTIFUL BOYS AND GIRLS POSTED ON DENISON’S MYSPACE
We are happy to announce that Denison’s new album “Carry The Weight” will be released on November 11, 2008. It will be available in both digital and CD formats through The Militia Group and on vinyl through Burnt Toast Vinyl
On September 16, Denison will be releasing “Beautiful Boys And Girls (single)” on iTunes and eMusic. The single will be available in digital format only.
Album covers and track listings below:
DENISON WITMER - CARRY THE WEIGHT
1 - Beautiful Boys And Girls
2 - Life Before Aesthetics
3 - From Here On Out
4 - Carry The Weight
5 - Isn’t It Poetry?
6 - Catholic Girl
7 - Song Of Songs
8 - If You Are The Writer
9 - One More Day
10 - Chesapeake Watershed
11 - Carry The Weight (Acoustic)
DENISON WITMER - BEAUTIFUL BOYS AND GIRLS (SINGLE)
1 - Beautiful Boys and Girls (album version)
2 - Beautiful Boys and Girls (acoustic)
3 - Catholic Girl (home sick demo)
All audio posted on this site is meant for sampling purposes only. If you really like what you hear, show it and support the artist - buy an album, buy some merch, got to a show. If you represent or own any media on this site and woulk like something taken down please email us, and we will take the necessary action of removing the file(s).
YCD : Would you mind telling us your story about music ?
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