Shades | Heartbreaking Bravery

June 17, 2016

Emily Yacina – A Curse (Music Video)

emily yacina

As the work week approaches its end, new material finds its way out into the world. This Thursday boasted intriguing new songs from Lina Tullgren, Peter Broderick, TERRY, Reality Something, No Joy, and Alexandra Savior. Moonface and Siinai, Private Victories, Grubby Little Hands, and The Blind Pets all released compelling new music videos. Full streams posted an impressive cast of entries as well, including new records from Soccer Mommy, Mikey Erg, Great Barriers, VHS, and The Dove and the Wolf. While, as ever, all of those are worthy of multiple revisits, it was a music video that slipped through the cracks earlier this week that ultimately wound up with this post’s feature spot.

Emily Yacina has built a career out of reveling in a comforting softness, conjuring up tantalizing beds of sound and enveloping the listener with the blankets. There’s an inherent warmth in her work that becomes effortlessly inviting while simultaneously creating a pull that stems from a deceptive emotional intricacy. The Sophie Savides-directed video for “A Curse” — which is gorgeously lensed by Kelly Jeffrey — capitalizes on all of those elements with an enticing precision.

Opening on a shot of a forlorn Yacina in a bathtub set against a clinically white backdrop, the camera draws closer, slowly pulling us into her world. Two vases of flowers adorn that backdrop, offering signs of life that soon blossom as the perspective switches to Yacina’s POV which reveals that she’s submerged in a milk-like liquid that single flowers populate. Another perspective shift and the flowers are suddenly everywhere, as a wellspring of noises calmly enter into the track.

Yacina captivates throughout, delivering a startlingly poignant performance that speaks to her abilities as both a composer and a performer. As the clip progresses, the sincerity in Yacina’s songwriting grows clearer as she bravely conveys every emotion that carries “A Curse” with a poise that seems effortless. Eventually, the camera pulls back out in a cyclical reveal that underscores the pained loneliness that informs the narrative of “A Curse” in a moment of reserved devastation.

Overall, “A Curse” is a deeply felt, elegant entry into Emily Yacina’s already impressive body of work. Open, honest, and incisive, it’s perfectly demonstrative of what can be achieved with an idea, a strong team, and a wealth of conviction. In that sense alone, it’s inspiring. What makes it worthwhile extends beyond its underpinnings to its execution. “A Curse” is exceptional at every turn and winds up being a definitive portrait of a formidable artist. After a dip into “A Curse”, it’s proving to be nearly impossible to work up the resolve to leave.

Watch “A Curse” below and pick up Soft Stuff here.

May 19, 2014

Watch This: Vol. 27

It may have taken a bit of doing but, as of this posting, Watch This will officially be back on its regular schedule. To celebrate this, the 27th installment of the series played strictly by the rules- and somehow wound up being one of the strongest offerings of Watch This to date. All of these songs were live sessions that were posted online in the past seven days and virtually of them contain songs or artists that have previously earned feature articles on this site in the past. In short, there are plenty of familiar faces to be found in this 27th installment and a few of the year’s best records are well represented. Really, now that all the work’s been done and all the exposition’s out of the way, all that’s left to do is sit back, turn the volume up, and Watch This.

1. Ovlov – The Great Crocodile (Little Elephant)

What can be said? This Little Elephant session is just a gift that keeps on giving. It’s the third to earn a spot in Watch This and arguably the finest of those three. The song’s introduction is nearly two full minutes of surging basement punk that verges on post-hardcore territory. Everything after is just as exhilarating as what’s preceded it. All in all, it ends up being another incredible sampling from one of the most exciting young bands out there. Another thing worth noting: the bassist’s sick LVL UP sweatshirt (if that’s not a great representation of what this site’s all about, nothing is).

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2. Angel Olsen – High & Wild (Jagjaguwar)

There haven’t been very many artists who have earned as many Watch This inclusions as Angel Olsen. This is no accident; her last record, Burn Your Fire for No Witness, is a gorgeous work of art. As a performer, she radiates a quiet intensity that’s both transfixing and strangely devastating. “High & Wild” lives up to the precedent she’s set and, as such, was an easy selection for this installment. Burn Your Fire for No Witness has more than proven its staying power and Olsen’s capitalizing on that success by virtue of her live prowess. No complaints.

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3. Yellow Ostrich – Shades (KEXP)

Yellow Ostrich scored a major coup with the acquisition of drummer Michael Tapper, who joined up shortly after leaving We Are Scientists. As a member of We Are Scientists, he was instrumental to their early success (With Love and Squalor is a vastly underrated 2000’s masterpiece) and now one of the driving forces behind Yellow Ostrich. “Shades” is one of the finest songs the band’s ever recorded and their performance of it for KEXP is a committed take. It’s borderline unclassifiable and it’s definitely worth paying attention to.

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4. Cloud Nothings – I’m Not Part of Me (Radio K)

First thought: “Is that a Smooth Brain shirt?!” Second thought: “Oh, yeah, Cleveland.” Third thought? “Good lord, this band slays live.” All that said, Here and Nowhere Else is an easy 2014 highlight and is fully expected to appear in the year-end conversations. It’s the second straight effort from the band that’s earned that distinction after being released in the first half of the year. As immense as their studio output has been, as this adeptly shows, they might be even better live.

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5. Screaming Females – It All Means Nothing (Audiotree)

As promised earlier today, here’s the second Screaming Females video to be featured from the band’s recent stop at Audiotree. Now touring behind their excellent Steve Albini-produced live album, Live at the Hideout, they’re proving time and time again the recordings that made the cut for that record weren’t a fluke. Truly one of the best live acts currently touring, “It All Means Nothing” has been a consistent set highlight and ranks among the best moments in the band’s entire discography. They don’t hold back anything here and the result is another monster of a performance that’s worth several subsequent watches. Make sure to bookmark this one.

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February 12, 2014

Vertical Scratchers – Memory Shards (Stream)

And the hits just keep coming. After yesterday’s parade of content, today’s been just as ceaseless in terms of output. There were outstanding songs by Young Widows, The Wytches, A Million Billion Dying Suns, Papercuts, Anto Dust, Downliners Sekt (which is a near-definitive example of what ambient dubstep should aspire to be), and JPNGRLS. Then there were stunning clips from the likes of Mr. Dream, Hockeysmith, Yellow Ostrich, and Blouse, in addition to the insta-classic videos from Guided by Voices and The Notwist. In the largely dark and wiry post-punk onslaught that is the majority of that list, Vertical Scratchers managed to sneak in another near-perfect track leading up to the release of Daughter of Everything later this month.

With that song, Vertical Scratchers officially go two for two. It wasn’t too long ago that this site covered their excellent first offering, “These Plains”, and now the Merge duo’s back with an equally infectious piece of quick-moving powerpop. Incidentally, the band that “Memory Shards” most prominently recalls is Guided by Voices, who came close to being today’s feature by virtue of their Funny or Die music video for “Planet Score”. From the shared sense of melody to the paradoxical aesthetic (energetically lackadaisical), Vertical Scratchers and Guided by Voices share a lot more in common than expected at first glance. There’s an impossibly smooth falsetto, a perfect amount of crunch, and a whole ton of melody packed into an immensely enjoyable two minute burst- sound familiar? If all of Daughter of Anything is as good as the first two cuts suggest it is, Vertical Scratchers will be making one hell of an entrance. Here’s hoping they wind up with a career as storied as their predecessors. Listen to “Memory Shards” below and get ready to wear this record out over spring and summer.

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