Yammerer – The Beachgoer
For most songwriters, the real battle that stands between them and the cold hard cash provided by writing a genuine hit is managing to tap into the feelings associated with the most positive experiences of average people and summoning them at will. And, if such experiences don’t exist, or if they avoid being summoned, figuring out what the shiny, happy people must feel works almost as well.
Not a lot of people write music about walking in the hot summer sun and going crazy from the heat. This is what Yammerer’s The Beachgoer sounds like. If you can step back into your brain at precisely a moment when it was overheating under immense pressure, you will find this to be a suitable soundtrack.
It’s hard to know exactly how to define Yammerer’s sound. This makes it interesting. They’re certainly a creative bunch, and at times it’s hard to tell whether their cryptic single is the work of a rock band or the ceremony of a cult. Either way, it’s quite compelling.
Brian Elliot – Strange
Songwriters could do worse than holding on to a diary by their bedside in which to diligently write down their dreams and visions. Quite frankly, for the most part, they’ll make for better lyrics and subject-material than the events of ordinary lives. You don’t hear many songs about burning pasta or forgetting to take out the trash.
The really great songwriters have the ability to not just relate information related to their dreams, but to draw you into them as well. The work of Scott Walker is a True North of this kind of work. The depth of vision of the former Walker Brothers’ singer far transcended what the regular psychedelic performers were able to produce during the 1960s.
Brian Elliot draws inspiration from that, as well as from the moody, mysterious style of Spaghetti Westerns and the sparse instrumentals that accompanied them as soundtracks. Strange is a great, lush, and stylish piece that is best suited for those bemoaning the good ol’ days or the lack of a new Last Shadow Puppets album.
