[fingertipsmusic] This Week's Finds: May 25 (Pure Bathing Culture, Husky, Two Wounded Birds)

From: Jeremy Schlosberg <fingertipsmusic@xxxxxxxxx>
To: fingertipsmusic@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 25 May 2012 14:22:09 -0400

*THIS WEEK'S FINDS <http://www.fingertipsmusic.com>*
*May 25*

[image: Pure Bathing
Culture]<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/purebathingculture.jpg>
“IVORY COAST” – PURE BATHING
CULTURE<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/Pure_Bathing_Culture-Ivory_Coast.mp3>

Sweet, unhurried, and reverby, “Ivory Coast” floats along on a gentle bed
of guitar and percussion, its purposeful melody sung with an engaging mix
of muddiness and clarity. The verse opens with singer Sarah Versprille
sounding a bit far back in the mix, but harmonies added in the second half
of the line (0:17) seem to sharpen her presence even as the vocal layers
remain kind of blurry and indistinct. That’s kind of a cool trick, actually.

Another cool trick: the verse’s opening melody is seven measures long, an
unusual and ear-catching length. The melody then repeats, this time in ten
measures, another unusual length. This isn’t anything you will necessarily
be aware of, but it adds to the song’s depth and character. In the chorus,
we get a twist not only on length of melody (five measures this time) but
with time signature, as one measure of six beats is inserted, coinciding
with the song’s defining chord change (first heard at 0:54-0:56). With the
elusive air of a major-minor alternation, the chord change is concise and
melodramatic, and yet comes and goes with an insouciance that almost makes
you feel as if you didn’t hear it right. And speaking of chord changes,
another signature moment is a chord change added to the second line in the
second verse, at 1:33. It comes and goes quickly, but leaves a penetrating
aftertaste. This is one artful song.

Versprille and band mate Daniel Hindman became Pure Bathing Culture upon
moving from New York City to Portland in early 2011. They played their
first show in January 2012. “Ivory Coast” is from the duo’s debut,
self-titled EP, which was released this week on Father/Daughter
Records<http://www.fatherdaughterrecords.com/>.
And to show you how well-crafted this song is, check out the simple,
acoustic, un-reverby
version<http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HZF3Hl7YdP4>the
two of them perform for the music site Natural
Beardy <http://www.naturalbeardy.com/>.

[image: Husky] <http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/husky.jpg>
“THE WOODS” – HUSKY <http://www.magnetmagazine.com/audio/TheWoods.mp3>

Although it has more than a touch of ’60s/’70s West Coast folk-rock
earnestness about it, “The Woods” feels somehow more approachable than this
might imply. The overall tone is buoyant, not weighty. Cross Love with
America and you’re in the ballpark.

A lot is going on here for a song that’s not much more than three minutes
long. The crisp acoustic intro—yes, it kind of sounds like “Hotel
California” for a moment—starts in one key then switches us to another. The
song proper opens with a verse melody that descends via a series of
alternating up and down intervals, a particularly engaging melody because
it begins with seven distinct, non-repeating notes. This an nifty feat,
drawing the listener without effort into the song’s universe. The dramatic
drum accents don’t hurt. Moving forward, we get: a rhythmic shift with the
chorus (0:44), itself featuring a yearning, briefly-sing-along melody; a
revisit of the verse in light of the new rhythm (1:21) (and keep your ear
on the lovely piano fills); a bridge that slows the song nearly to a halt
(2:14); and a haunting, falsetto-driven coda inspired by the song’s first
line (2:44).

Named for front man Husky Gawenda, the band coalesced as a foursome in
Melbourne in 2008. Its debut album, *Forever So*, was released in Australia
last fall, and is coming on in the US on Sub Pop in July. They are in fact
the first Australian band signed to the landmark indie label. MP3 viaMagnet
Magazine <http://www.magnetmagazine.com/>.

[image: Two Wounded
Birds]<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/twowoundedbirds.jpg>
“TO BE YOUNG” – TWO WOUNDED
BIRDS<http://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/03-To-Be-Young.mp3>

“To Be Young” is so insidiously appealing that anything that might cause
some possible trouble here (copping half a melody from the Pretenders
“Don’t Get Me Wrong”; intermittently affected vocal style) is neutralized
by the soaring success of its pure pop songiness.

A deep-noted guitar lick both launches and anchors the piece. Note how
swiftly the music moves even as the lyrics take their time; both in the
verse and the chorus there are at least two brisk measures of music between
every single lyrical line. This creates a built-in anticipation for each
subsequent line—as listeners, we kind of lean in, waiting. This kind of
structural delayed gratification is reinforced by melodies that deliver
their payoff on the back end. For instance, the verse hook (or, maybe, not
so much a hook as a “moment”) is the repeated melody at the end of the line
(in the first verse (0:34), it’s the same lyric too: “My head don’t feel
right”). In the chorus, as much as the ear is lured in by the opening salvo
(“It’s too early”), the song, to my ears, triumphs by nailing the landing,
as it were—with the lines “‘Cause we were young/And hopeless,” with that
slightly hesitant melisma on the word “young,” the notes of which repeat on
“hopeless,” and the music separating them out while we wait, and wait, for
the resolution. This comes, actually, only with the transition back to the
verse. The song moves on, briskly.

Two Wounded Birds are a quartet from Margate, in the UK. They have
previously released an EP and a couple of singles. “To Be Young” is from
the band’s self-titled debut album, set for release in June on the Holiday
Friends Recording Co., a label co-founded by Jacob Graham of the Drums and
now part of the French Kiss Records family. MP3 via Austin Town
Hall<http://austintownhall.com/>
.

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There's so much to do....."

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[fingertipsmusic] This Week's Finds: May 25 (Pure Bathing Culture, Husky, Two Wounded Birds)

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