Heartbreaking Bravery

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Tag: Sabbath

July 23, 2015

Princess Reason – Your Divorce (Stream)

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Today will be dedicated to two posts: the first (the one you’re reading now), will cover a large handful of yesterday’s notable releases while the ensuing entry will bring everything up to speed. While there wasn’t an intimidating excess of new material on Wednesday, like there has been in the past, it still managed to unearth some very strong pieces. Ms. John Soda had their tantalizingly light new single “Hero Whales“, Camper Van Beethoven’s willfully ridiculous Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! song “Long Way To Go“, Doubting Thomas Cruise Control offered another compelling new look at their forthcoming record via “Soft Focus“, Blake Schwarzenbach provided a glimpse at his upcoming solo material with the quietly pulsating “Sanity Is Waiting“, and Donovan Wolfington maintained both their searing aggression and surprisingly light pop touch via “Solo Cup“.

For music videos, there was the menacing grit of Memory Pills’ “Beauty of the City“, Matthew E. White’s moving “Vision (No Skin Version)“, Jenny Hval’s dream-laden “Sabbath“, and Gem Club’s strangely harrowing “Braid“. The full streams wound up with incredibly strong representation from an individual release: Antarctigo Vespucci’s s debut full-length effort, the incredibly strong Leavin’ La Vida Loca. Today’s featured item circles back to the single song streams and strings together lackadaisical basement pop with punk attitude as well as anything else to have found release this year.

With the light drawl that hearkens back to the slacker pop of the 90’s there’s an obvious Pavement comparison to be made here, especially with the off-the-cuff lyrical delivery fully ingrained in Princess Reason‘s DNA but those comparisons can only stretch so far; Princess Reason deserve to be judged on their own merit, not be held to the gold standard of a genre iconoclast. “Your Divorce” is a smartly-crafted burst of outsider pop, making room for some entirely unexpected moments that elevate the song from being good to being genuinely memorable. It’s a rambling, ramshackle number that headlines a forthcoming 7″ with the kind of confidence and finesse that suggest this band’s in the midst of something that should secure them quite a bit of attention going forward. An unlikely, biting summer anthem for the romantically down-and-out “Your Divorce” may have a lot of roots in the past but it still manages to come across as a breath of fresh air.

Listen to “Your Divorce” below and pre-order the 7″ from Nebraskan Coast here.

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April 10, 2015

Liam Betson – Rapture In Heat (Music Video)

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A lot has happened over the past few days. Most of it, once again, has been pretty astonishing. A trio of full streams compromised of a short-form teaser (Say No! To Architecture’s SN!TA), a blistering single (Kinjac’s Possession), and a full album (The Blind Shake’s raucous Fly Right) all ensured a good round for the format. Music videos doubled that number with great clips emerging from the likes of Jeff Rosenstock’s love-letter to NYC (“You, In Weird Cities“), Young Buffalo’s oddball “My Place“, and Wildhoney’s striking, lo-fi presentation for “Seventeen“.  There was also the compelling throwback aesthetics of Native America’s “Like A Dream“, Young Fathers’ deeply hypnotic clip for career highlight “Shame“, and Belle & Sebastian’s impossibly lovely home video edit for “Paper Boat“.

Great songs continue to come out at a breakneck pace and the last two days resulted in nine more to add to this year’s pile. Turn to Crime unveiled the promising “Actions“, Autobahn revealed their brooding slow-burner “Beautiful Place to Die“, and J Fernandez released the mesmerizing “Read My Mind“. Jenny Hval dipped into the sensuous with “Sabbath“, Mini Dresses quietly posted the slinky “Bracelets“, and Carlos Forster’s ambient masterpiece-“You’ll Survive“- has a shot at being one of this year’s most devastating gorgeous songs. Clean Girls unleashed the throttling “Magic City” while Tandem Felix held down considerably lighter territory with the gentle indie pop of “Waiting in the Wings” and The Pretty Greens rounded things out with the lovingly worn basement pop of “Elevator Eyes“. For today’s feature though, the focus falls on the clip for what was one of my favorite songs from last year, Liam Betson’s “Rapture In Heat”.

In the song, Betson weaves a tapestry of subtle loss in a deeply heartfelt, meaningful way. It’s interesting that the narrative through-line that the video emphasizes is the one laying in the song’s subtext: searching. The Cover of Hunter is a record that’s loaded with heavy questions and offers very little in the way of answers; a bleak approximation of life’s more infuriating struggles. At some point, Betson accepts that the only answers that are given have to be accepted, even if they’re reason for concern. James Benson (no relation) directs the clip with an assured hand, seamlessly overlaying some genuinely stunning visuals and choosing to accentuate more than just the song’s subtext. During the clip’s most direct (and most memorable) scene, Betson applies lipstick before literally flushing that part of his identity down the toilet, if only for a moment. Once the relative discomfort- and general ambiguity- of that action reels back, it stands as one of the more disquieting additions to the mythos of The Cover of Hunter. By the time the video draws to a hazy finish, it’s clear that one of 2014’s strongest songs will have one of 2015’s strongest clips. It’s essential viewing and another gem in the growing treasure trove that Double Double Whammy houses. Don’t let it pass by without celebration.

Watch “Rapture In Heat” below and order The Cover of Hunter here.

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