Saturday Songs - March 24

And here we are! Against all odds, here is the promised fourth post of the week! I can’t promise similar output next week, but I will again warn you about the impending gulf of posts that will occur beginning April 6—the first day of my spring break. For now, here’s Saturday Songs…which I sound really get around to retitling… Enjoy!

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1. “Bird Song” – The Wailin’ Jennys

Canadian folk trio The Wailin’ Jennys deliver a consistent product: pretty acoustic tunes with some jaw-dropping harmonies. The twist thrown into this song is the three-part a cappella section that closes out the song; it’s about as close to Brian Wilson pop perfection as I’ve heard country music come in quite some time. Listening to an established female folkie group like The Wailin’ Jennys (or, alternately, Madison Violet), I can’t help but hope that Larkin Poe is traveling on the same road. Hopefully, the next Larkin Poe record will sport some vocal parts like this one.

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2. “Shake, Shake, Shake” – Bronze Radio Return

There’s something a little too gimmicky about a group of kids from a music school getting together to form a rock band founded on old-time values. That’s a nutshell description of Bronze Radio Return—a group from Hartford, CT, two of whom went to the Hartt School of Music. Once in possession of that knowledge, it’s hard to think of their music as anything but vested with something of a poser-ish stance—a kind of diggin’ through mom and dad’s record collection attitude. But while Bronze Radio Return might be rooting around record sleeves for musical ideas, they deliver a consistently modern, grooving sound.

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3. “Waiting Around To Die” – The Be Good Tanyas

Every couple months or so, I will hunt for Townes Van Zandt covers. His influence—obviously not as monumental as someone like Dylan—still seems to pop up everywhere. Covers of his songs are scattered willy-nilly across folkie albums, such as Robby Hecht’s cover of “If I Needed You,” which I featured a few weeks ago. My latest find is this wonderful cover of “Waiting Around To Die”—the first song that Townes wrote—by The Be Good Tanyas, a female folk trio hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia. (Is anyone noticing similarities between #1 and #3?!)

The Be Good Tanyas provide the song with the delicate, dark care that it was always looking for. Van Zandt, despite his wide acclaim as a songwriter, was never that skilled of a singer or guitarist, and covers of his songs often reveal those weaknesses. Steve Earle’s album of Van Zandt covers (2011’s Townes) was a step in the right direction; I think there’s another covers album out there somewhere…maybe The Be Good Tanyas are up for it?

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4. “You Can Have It All” – Yo La Tengo

One of my favorite songs, this delicate number from Yo La Tengo is a cover of a somewhat forgotten George McCrae song, but you’d never know that from hearing it. The disco flavor has been lovingly peeled back, as if veneer on a coffee table, to reveal the beautiful song underneath. The guttural guitar pulse, Georgia Hubley’s frantic drum patter, and the ghostly buh-bump-buh-bump a capella ornamentation turn this song into a fragile wonder.

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5. “Song For You” – Jenny & Tyler

You all know how I feel about Christian rock. I’ve just about beaten that horse to death…although I’m tempted to explore some of its oddities again after listening to Jenny & Tyler’s album Faint Not. Unlike Josh Garrells, this husband-wife duo doesn’t skirt around their religiosity. Praising God and eternal love are themes that beat at the heart of this album and they make sure that we don’t miss any of the lyrics. That said, I couldn’t help but fall in love with this album. Imagine the unlikely marriage of The Civil Wars and A Rush Of Blood To The Head-era Coldplay: soaring male-female harmonies tied to stadium size production. And the best part? It’s free!