Before you check out anything listed here below, go listen to some Dolly today (her album Trio with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris is a personal favorite and always a good choice, among others), then, come back here for your regular new music update, 3 Songs You Have To Hear:
“Disappearing Act” by Beck
Ever the musical chameleon, Beck’s once again slipping back into his mellow, spacious acoustic mode for Ride Lonesome later this year, corralling the backing band that brought his albums Sea Change and Morning Phase to life (including producer-of-note Nigel Godrich on mixing duty). The album’s latest advance single features expansive, reverberant harmonies and gentle arrangements from Beck and crew, all signs showing he’s right back in a sweet spot for this latest acoustic sojourn.
“If I Could Write” by Napsack
Cleveland’s Napsack was one of my favorite sets at this summer’s Nelsonville Music Festival (a fest that always has prime OH artist representation), and they stand apart from many of their counterparts in our state’s northern side by taking a twangier, rootsier approach. After a string of EPs in recent years the band has an LP due later this year in More Mountains, and “If I Could Write” shows a captivating lyrical minimalism, with poignant little images against the band’s rolling heartland rock.
“Marianne” by Fontaines D.C.
In more synthetic places in this week’s set, darlings of Ireland Fontaines D.C. are gearing up for the follow up to their breakout Romance, with Dopamine Chamber due this fall. “Marianne” has an incessant, lightly sinister drive to it, backdropping the song’s subject split between hiding away from the world’s despairs or running away off to something else, or to someone else. Word on the street the band’s upcoming album will be delving into the trappings and darkness of fame and the modern world, and time will tell what other characters like Marianne will reveal themselves this October.
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