Only As Long As The Day - Another Beautiful Release from Sera Cahoone

Sera Cahoone has produced a lot of buzz in this city and outside, and for good reason - she’s a marvel. An artist you’re bound to carry forward as a classic favorite. Her music is timeless, and will be as appreciated twenty years down the road as it is today. Hers is sweet melody and melancholy, folk and country intertwined. The kind of music that is lovely and quaint, and at times bittersweet. There’s a hint of sorrow that looms throughout many of her songs, and if she weren’t backed by such a gregarious and upbeat group of musicians on stage – who all jive so very well together – one would draw a certain loneliness from her music.

I recently saw Cahoone and band perform a stunning show opening for equally fantastic Grand Archives at Triple Door. Tomorrow, she’ll perform at Easy Street Records to promote the release of her new album, Only As Long As the Day, her sophomore release, though first release on Subpop (I still haven’t figured out how her first album managed to slip through the cracks and go self-released). The Triple Door performance was powerful, though I hold dear the fact we Seattleites have an opportunity to see Cahoone up close, solo(?) in such an intimate and interactive setting tomorrow evening. She’s one of the great local artists/bands redefining Seattle’s sound(s) and contributing to another epic era of Seattle music that’s on the verge of exploding already.

Her new album is rich in various string as well as soft country twang. The banjo and pedal steel are beautiful value-add to an already gorgeous and fluid sound Cahoone resonates on her own. The album sets the listener into a relaxed, though at times unsettled (her lyrics have an ability to set one off guard), state of calm and contemplation. There is depth in her lyrics that unleash self-reflection and sorrow. She is practical and direct with words, and her songwriting provides a glimpse into an introspective and philosophical soul. Her voice is beautiful, gentle, smooth, and as natural as the color green in the Pacific Northwest. Her songs often reach sad story and heartbreak territory, and judging by her lyrics, one gathers she has broken a few hearts along her way.

All in all, her second release provides another (in addition to her first) harmonious coordination of acoustics, melody, and rhythm that produce a fresh and colorful sound. Here is an artist one is bound to gravitate and hold on to. We all know the kind.

Sera Cahoone – Only As Long As The Day is out March 18th. She will be performing at Easy Street Records free at 7pm the same day. Her CD release is on March 29th at the Tractor Tavern.

Sera Cahoone’s abbreviated history:
• Played drums for Seattle band Carissa’s Wierd from 1995 to 2003
• Sera contributed on drums to Band of Horses debut album (which was formed by Ben Bridwell who was also in Carissa’s Wierd)

Popularity: 23%

“No, YOU Listen!” — Fleet Foxes Sun Giant EP

Hey, LB here. I thought I’d try something different and offer a glimpse of what’s been getting recent significant play in my CD player. I call it “No, YOU Listen!” and hopefully I’ll find enough gumption to make it a continual thing. The title must be said (somewhat) vehemently—emphasis on the ‘you’—while pointing your index finger at the tip of someone’s nose. Don’t say it if you’re not going to do it. Enough jibber-jabber.

I picked up the debut from Seattle’s Fleet Foxes a few weeks ago, a 5-track EP entitled Sun Giant. Needless to say, I’m really pleased with it. The quintet has garnered a lot of attention in recent months, most notably for their union with Sub Pop (guilty) and subsequent tour supporting Blitzen Trapper. Late last week, bandleader and avid scarf-wearer Robin Pecknold wrote a blog on the band’s myspace page apologizing for all the press they’ve received of late. But since he didn’t explicitly refer to anything in particular, it’s difficult to know what he was talking about (or if he was simply being facetious). Well, I’m here to say: Good for them. No, not for getting annoyed with the inevitable exposure enjoyable music will bring a fledgling band in this here technological age; but for warranting such added recognition.

Maybe the consternation—feigned or otherwise—has something to do with the fact that innumerous writers/bloggers across the internet have incorrectly and frivolously lumped them “into the My Morning Jacket and Band of Horses genre.” It sure irks me—they sound like neither. Jim James and Ben Bridwell are understandably comparable due to their similar vocal ranges. As well, the layered multi-person harmonizing that Fleet Foxes employs is generally absent from the music of either of their bands. Both MMJ and BoH are proud of their southern rock, country-tinged roots, but you’ll find no such basis when listening to the Foxes. BoH and MMJ are inclined to elongated guitar and drum jams, like any good Neil Young pupil would be, but you’d be hard pressed to find any evidence that FF is anything close to a jam-band. In a word, Fleet Foxes are a folk group, plain and simple.

I say plain and simple, of course, but I mean intricate and vibrant. Sun Giant begins with its title track, a song mostly devoid of instrumentation until its final stages. “So,” you ask, “is it like Rockapella or something?” Good god, no; but it does, as is the case with most of their songs, make use of the band’s myriad vocal talents to sway the listener towards the fantastical bliss to follow (yes, I just said ‘fantastical bliss’). The hymn-like tune closes out with a trail of plucky mandolin. The record continues with “Drops in the River”, a baroque-pop venture that may remind some listeners of the band Beirut, without the Eastern European influence. Pecknold’s ethereal reflections, accompanied by mandolin, tambourine, and Nicholas Peterson’s kick drum, swell to an inspiring crescendo. They are eventually met with a flourish of jangly guitars and choral texture, leading into an arresting pause in harmony, and finishing with another sonic upsurge. It’s a testament to legendary producer Phil Ek that the song comes off as beautiful as it does. The man should be cast and bronzed in a square somewhere.

“English House” continues the trend of luminous, pastoral imagery in Pecknold’s lyrics, crooning his refrain with all the fervor of a 70s AM radio star. The string players here —Skye Skjelset, Casey Westcott, Christian Wargo— hold the weight, chanting along with their kinsfolk, painting a lush musical landscape, while Peterson drums his way through the countryside. The fourth track, “Mykonos,” is my favorite. It moves a bit faster than the others, has a bit more rock for its roll, and clearly flaunts the band’s ability to successfully arrange a song. The listener is transported to a sun-drenched and peaceful imaginary backdrop, beginning with Pecknold’s enchanting lyric: “And you will go to Mykonos \ with a vision of a general cause \ and a sun to maybe dissipate \ shadows of the mess you made.” If any cut on their self-titled LP—to be released June 3rd of this year—is half as moving, half as dazzling, and half as impressive, it will be an irrefutable success.

Popularity: 23%

Ghosts (I-IV) in the Machine

Today, I virtually slammed down five dollars for the internet-only release of NIN’s Ghosts (I-IV). The soundtrack for “daydreams”, so says Mr. Reznor.

So far, it’s excellent. Being an entirely instrumental affair, I don’t know where I am in it. iTunes says we are listening to “23 Ghosts III”. Whatever. Of note, the tracks are also free of ID3 tags that enumerate the genre to which one might assign them.

Find it at ghosts.nin.com

You can choose from a variety of entirely DRM-free versions of the album; from 9 free songs to $5 for a download code for all 36 compositions including wallpapers and album art, a 2 disc hard copy, to the already-sold-out $300 deluxe edition that entitles you to 10 free car washes at Brown Bear.

My car’s dirty and I heard that NIN was going to be playing the Sunset. Guess which package I sprung for?

Popularity: 17%