Saturday Songs - Aug. 20

1. “Twenty Miles” – Deer Tick

Finally I got my hands on Deer Tick’s third full-length album. It’s not a great album—it’s a good album—but there are some winners on it. “Twenty Miles” is the personal favorite, especially its swinging bass line and roving guitar arpeggios. Exactly the kind of country stomper that I tend to fall for…

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2. “Out In The Night” – The Atlas Mountains

[sorry...it's not the whole song below]

It’s so much the body of the song that I like (although I do like it), but the fantastic coda that starts up with a reverb-drenched guitar before folding into some piano licks and then some mad-rush drumming into a stirring finale. As to why we haven’t heard of this band before is a mystery. Hailing from Nashville but based in Perth, Australia, their travels around the world aren’t elucidated in their brief online bio.

They have all the makings of a great indie rock band, but they have not yet hit their step; they have a meager 13,000 total plays on their MySpace page, which—if you’re not familiar with sort of statistic—are pretty darn low (for a band that sounds so darn good). Hopefully the next album will push them to the next level…until then we should all listen to A Splendid Diagnosis! For free!

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3. “Girl In A War” – Josh Ritter

Josh Ritter is fantastic. I considered featuring his equally impressive song “The Curse”—about a mummy that comes back to life and falls in love with her archaeologist—but I thought I’d share this song instead. Because Ritter is a literary type, his songs are littered with references. Not so cluttered as most, “Girl In A War” namedrops apostles Paul and Peter and comedy duo Laurel and Hardy.

Does the song make sense?

Maybe…? According to an interview with Ritter, the song deals with the way in which religious language was used to incite the war in Iraq in 2003 and how Ritter felt that the language was being inappropriately used. So Ritter went ahead and…oh…I don’t know. Just enjoy the song.

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4. “Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!” – Corb Lund & the Hurtin’ Albertans

Not many artists are brave enough to write a concept album…and even fewer are clever enough to make a good one. Lund is one of those rare artists; with Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!, he has crafted an album about horses (and fighting on horses) that is serious and funny. Some highly recommended tunes on that album, but I offer the title track as the cream of the crop.

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5. “Fields Of Gold” – Eva Cassidy

This is a Sting song, of course, but upon hearing Cassidy’s rendition, most people are bound to acknowledge that she might have outdone Gordon Sumner on this one. Cassidy, who died about 15 years ago, is considered by some as one of the premier covers artists of all time. With an elastic voice and a versatile style of guitar playing, Cassidy covered everything from rock to pop to blues to gospel to old Robbie Burns tunes. But this adaptation of Sumner’s song may be her crowning achievement.