listen.

swimming with laura

Great Lake Swimmers have sort of barely been on my radar for a while now, basically just to the extent that I knew I'd heard a few songs that I'd really liked.  Well I finally got around to picking up (or "picking up", as in downloading from emusic) their most recent album, last year's Ongiara. And it's really super good.

They are a trio of handsome Toronto-based gents, with that guy in the front there Tony Dekker doing the songwriting, singing and guitar.

Amanda saw a picture of them and told me I'd like them even if they played cowbells and tinkertoys, which frankly is off the mark because I think a band based primarily on cowbells and tinkertoys would be totally awesome no matter how cute they were, but I get her point. Still, though. They're really hitting the spot for me right now. Kind of a hazy, countryish folky blend of banjo, guitars, some other random instruments, string arrangements from Canada's awesome one-man-band du jour Owen Pallett (another fave of mine), and then there's Dekker's vocals, which make me sad in that good-sad-but-still-sad way. Kind of a perfect soundtrack for yesterday's cozy afternoon at home, avoiding the rain outside by making quiche and drinking too much coffee.

Here are a couple of my faves:

Great Lake Swimmers - Your Rocky Spine

Great Lake Swimmers - Where in the World Are You
(you know those double-tracked vocals get me every time. also love the strings on this one.)

And an older one, from their 2005 album, Bodies and Minds:

Great Lake Swimmers - Various Stages

Just for fun, here's the video for Your Rocky Spine, which I think is completely adorable:

And as I was listening to Great Lake Swimmers yesterday, I threw some Laura Gibson into the mix, which was totally perfect.

The young and mesmerizing Laura, on Portland's genius Hush Records (see also big faves of mine Loch Lomond, not to mention hush alums The Decemberists of course), has a voice that breaks your heart and a simple, pared down approach to a classic introspective country folky sound. So good.

From her 2006 album, If You Come To Greet Me:

Laura Gibson - This is not the end

Laura Gibson - Country, Country
("Everybody in the country knows I always sing them country songs, and always fall for country boys."  Ditto that, Laura.)

And she just released this awesome limited edition EP (available for purchase and download here!) called Six White Horses, which is all reinterpretations of traditional songs, including this one I remember singing as a kid (but I don't think the lyrics we sang were this creepy):

Laura Gibson - All the Pretty Horses

Enjoy.

>ben

oh patsy!

every now and then i go through a phase where i want to listen to is patsy cline.

and for some reason i am in that phase right now.

there are many reasons to appreciate this woman.

for one, you can't really beat her in terms of songs about heartbreak.

and let's face it - whatever your feelings about contemporary country music are - old country is great.

and patsy cline is pretty amazing. her voice is unreal.  it's kind of a surreal sound -very theatrical -- as if it isn't from the late 1950's but rather something david lynch created for a movie.  and, like i said, if you're looking for songs about heart break and not being able to get over your man who left you - well, you have come to the right post!

get ready for it.

CLEARLY we must start with one of her iconic songs:

walkin after midnight, patsy cline
i can, and plan on, posting all the other covers of this song - because they're all great.  is it because we all know what a lonely walk at night looking for our lover is like? probably.
it's kind of a bizarre story either about a woman so lovesick and forlorn she has to walk at night due to her solitary insomnia or it's a song about a prostitute? either way it has universal appeal.

i fall to pieces, patsy cline
one of her biggest hits that features some of the dramatic heart ache i was talking about earlier: "i fall to pieces each time some one speaks your name." damn. that's intense. and i can judge because i've never been unable to see or be near someone because they couldn't return my love.

back in baby's arms, patsy cline
there is hope! i'm back where i belong! back in baby's arms!  i need a relationship in order to feel complete!

okay no let's take it up a notch, patsy:

these songs all get a little rockabilly twangy, and it's awesome - there's even a hint of yodeling.

they are currently the most played on my itunes.  (with the staples singer's i'll take you there coming in 4th)

seven lonely days, patsy clines

blue moon of kentucky, patsy cline
i love this song.

lovesick blues, patsy cline

here's a rather fascinating tidbit* i found whilst researching patsy cline:  both dottie west and june carter cash recall cline telling them about feeling a sense of impending doom in the months leading up to her death.  she began giving away personal possessions, writing out a will and arranging for care of her children.  she then died in a plane crash on march 3, 1963.  (march 3 is my birthday, so there's also that.)
isn't that interesting?  kind of creepy, kind of sad, sort of makes me want to write a play about it.

okay. before we go here's one more classic patsy tune that i love:

crazy, patsy cline.

have a good day!

*take that with a grain of salt: i found that on wikipedia. so it might not be true at all. (i kind of don't trust that website.)