This is a photo of us taken backstage in Birmingham on our U.K tour in February. I’m pretty sure we were a little delirious after a couple of days of long drives and late nights. Our whirlwind tour also took us to the States for our first ever headline shows. No matter where we played in the world we were greeted by beautiful, attentive audiences who had genuinely connected with our music. It’s not lost on me that at the age of 44 I’m touring to different parts of the world and playing sold out club shows. Amazing! Thanks to each and everyone of you for coming out to show your support or buy an album. It means the world to us.
Lastly, I wanted to offer you a little gift as a token of my appreciation for the support you have shown me and my band this year. I’ve put together an 8 track EP of songs from all different projects. Some of them you may have already but just in case you don’t head over here and enter $0 into the payment field, then enter your email and it’s yours.
Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth were just 17 when Let’s Eat Grandma released their debut I, Gemini. Childhood friends who grew up writing songs that, over time, emerged into something quite magical. Call it experimental sludge pop, bubblegum-psych rock, it was a marriage of magnificence and makeshift, with synths, saxophones, clapping games, recorders, and secured them sold out shows, critical acclaim, a spellbinding turn on Jools Holland; their audience drawn to the strange beauty of their music, to something compelling and otherworldly.
Two years on, and I’m All Ears is an even greater revelation: the most startling, infectious, innovative and thrilling record you’ll hear this year — alive with furious pop, unapologetic grandeur, intimate ballads; with loops, Logic, outrageous 80s drum solos, as well as production from David Wrench (The xx/Frank Ocean/Caribou) and SOPHIE (famed for her own material, as well as work with Madonna, Charli XCX, and Vince Staples) with Faris Badwan (HMLTD, The Horrors); an album that cements Let’s Eat Grandma as one of the most creative and exciting bands in the world right now.
I’m All Ears is not only the sound of a band diverging and finding their own identities, it is also the sound of two young musicians united afresh, bringing with them their individual loves, passions, experiences. It is a record, too, that is musically exceptional, lyrically remarkable, charged with wit and joy and tenderness. It is the kind of record after which everything changes.
Speedy Ortiz is back, The Fabulous front woman Sadie Dupuis has mastered the balance of playing familiar material from her band’s early catalog while letting what’s on the horizon shine. Speedy Ortiz performed twice during SXSW during the week, and while the setlists were different, each was book ended with ear candy from the excellent albums Foil Deer and Major Arcana albums, both are filled with gems, Sadie has a penchant for writing great songs like the triumphant “Lucky 88”—from the band’s upcoming newest and upcoming album Twerp Verse (out April 27 on Carpark). Always eclectically dressed and with an array of ornate headpieces, Dupuis is so delightful to see and hear live. She frequently loses herself in the bombastic music played by her band, but always maintains her presence onstage, to the point that you can feel her cycling through the thoughts and emotions of her intriguing songwriting.
Wire‘s first three albums are stone-cold, classics and it’s pretty amazing to think how far the band progressed in just three short years, from their 1977 minimal punk debut Pink Flag, to 1978’s angular, perfect Chairs Missing, to 1979’s the synth-embracing and at times Eno-esque 154. All three album should be any collection, and now they’re being reissued and remastered in new deluxe editions that Wire are releasing themselves, due out May 22nd as CD box sets and then June 22nd as single-disc CDs and vinyl LPs.
Wire’s first three albums need no introduction. They are the three classic albums on which Wire’s reputation is based. Moreover, they are the recordings that minted the post-punk form. This was adopted by other bands, but Wire were there first.
These seminal albums are now getting the definitive re-release treatment, in a format owners of the Silver/Lead and Change Becomes Us special editions will already be familiar with. Each album is presented as an 80-page hardback book – the size of a 7-inch, but obviously much thicker.
The boxes contain demos, radio sessions, live recordings, b-sides, alternate versions and more, not to mentions booklets containing new liner notes from the band, introductions by Jon Savage and rare photos that haven’t been seen for 40 years.. Pink Flag is a two disc set while Chairs Missing and 154 are three-disc sets.The bonus tracks will be exclusive to physical editions
Meanwhile Wire are releasing a singles box set for Record Store Day titled Nine Sevens. It features Wire’s six singles that were originally released on the Harvest label, one released on Rough Trade (1981’s non-LP “Our Swimmer”), and one single recorded in 1980 that was never released on 7″. There’s also the rare EP that came with initial copies of 154.
Both the album reissues are the singles box are all remastered from the original analogue source tapes with replicas of the original artwork. Check out the remaster of Wire’s often-covered “Outdoor Miner” (a single and on ChairsMissing):
On June 8th, Snail Mail—which is Lindsey Jordan’s brainchild but performs as a quartet—will release their debut album, Lush, via Matador Records. Now out of high school and pursuing music full time, Jordan still isn’t sure about all the attention, but she’s definitely sure of herself. In her recent interview , she spoke honestly about recording Lush, her identity as an openly gay woman, and how she’s changed her approach to making music now that so many people are listening. Despite the hype—which she admits has forced her to “grow up” and sometimes puts her in a “really weird place”—she is smart, capable and fully in control. “I didn’t care if anybody heard [my music] before,” she said. “Now I don’t really care how people take it, but I do care what I feel about the music that I’m putting out.”
At 18, most people are applying to colleges, falling in and out of first love, still figuring out how they see the world—and how they see themselves. Lindsey Jordan is doing all that, but she’s also playing in her band, Snail Mail.
After coming out of the Baltimore underground scene, where her allies included Washington, D.C. punk mainstays Priests and her guitar teacher, Mary Timony (of Helium and Ex Hex fame), Jordan released the first Snail Mail EP, Habit,
Arriving in the early months of 2017, Bonny Doon’s self-titled debut was a warm introduction to the Detroit quartet for many. Hazy and bright, the album’s woozy melodies and swirling webs of summery guitar textures were easily ingested as low-key slacker pop, blissfully awash in lo-fi sensibilities and dreamy ambiance. But the nonchalant breeziness belied a serious attention to songcraft that beckoned careful listening, and hinted at depths yet unexplored. Lo and behold, before the ink was even dry on the first record, work had already begun on its follow-up “Longwave,” a conscious about-face from the sonic experimentation of the first album, and a journey inward.
Opting for spontaneity and simplicity over the exploration of layers and textures that defined the first record, the band architected an incredibly intimate sound for these new songs. The album was tracked with minimal overdubs or production flourishes, constructing a frame that is spare and understated. The songs on Longwave amble through moonlit fields of melancholy guitar leads and self-reflection, the collection unfolding almost as one uninterrupted conversation with self. The session aimed to capture the band at their essence. With the superfluous stripped away, a gentle but steadfast spiritual core is revealed as the backbone of Bonny Doon’s cosmic American music
Since 2016, Durham, England’s Pale Kids have carved out a place of their very own in the punk scene. While they may draw comparisons to Martha—the fact Pale Kids recorded an EP in Martha’s house cements it—but, across their assortment of splits and EPs, Pale Kids have built a space for their own voice. Since the beginning, the band’s been vocal champions of their queer identities, while wrapping their pop hooks in short, bombastic punk songs. With the release of Hesitater, a new three-song EP coming March 23rd on Father/Daughter Records, the band takes another step forward, writing the strongest melodies of their short career, while still crafting lyrics that pack a meaningful punch.
While Hesitater is the latest offering from Pale Kids, it also features one of the band’s earliest songs in “Gloom.” The track is about fighting against the despair that filters into one’s daily life, using a bouncing backbeat as a means of shaking off the doldrums. Closing out Hesitater is “Samson,” which examines a past relationship with a softer, tempered outlook. It begs the question, can you make something work if you forgive and forget, or is such a thing even possible? Taken as a whole, Hesitater proves that Pale Kids are finding their own space in their scene, and creating whip-smart punk at a time when it’s needed most.
‘Here Come The Nice’ is the ultimate, indispensible tribute to Swinging London’s finest and best-loved pop heroes! The Small Faces the set includes.
4 CDs | 75 songs remastered from the original tapes | 72-page hardback book, lavishly illustrated| Over 90 classic, rare & previously unpublished photos & memorabilia | Definitive sleeve notes include new & archive interviews | 3 rare singles in red, white & blue vinyl | Olympic Studios 7-inch replica acetate | 64-page softcover illustrated lyric book | Track-by-track illustrated guide to every song on the box set | 5 postcards with rare photos & artwork | Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake facsimile press kit | 2 large-size reproduction posters | 2 exclusive Gered Mankowitz fine art prints
Written contributions from Robert Plant, Paul Weller, David Bowie, Nick Mason, Peter Frampton, Chris Robinson, Glen Matlock, Chad Smith, Paul Stanley & many more.
“In forensic detail and with a sleevenote by Pete Townshend, this 4-CD box rights the wrongs wreaked on Marriot & Lane, McLagan and Jones’s peak years.”
MOJO
“The Mod scamps’ best work, finally given due respect.”
UNCUT
“It’s the package of the year, beautifully crafted for the Small Faces fanatic in all of us.”
GOLDMINE (USA)
“An impeccable monument to the greatest pop group this country ever produced.”
SHINDIG!
“Now at last, this massive box set finally set’s to rights not only the band’s legacy but also the actual sounds created. Beautifully presented, meticulously researched and annotated this is the only Small Faces recording you will ever need…”
TOTAL MUSIC MAGAZINE
“Lavish, four-CD retrospective includes unreleased material, out-takes, and alternate versions. Sheds new light on an extraordinary pop experiment.”
8/10 – 2-page review by Paul Moody
CLASSIC ROCK – April 2014
In celebration of the Small Faces’ induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Charly Records are proud to present ‘Here Come The Nice’, a deluxe heavyweight 4 CD box set chronicling the group’s career on Andrew Loog Oldham’s pioneering Immediate Records label, curated by surviving band members Kenney Jones and Ian McLagan.
A whopping 75 songs includes every hit single, A & B side released worldwide on Immediate Records plus a generous bounty of unreleased material, outtakes, early and alternate versions, live tracks and previously unheard recording sessions from Olympic, Trident and IBC Studios, all sourced and remastered from recently discovered original master and multitrack tapes.
The lavish 72-page hardback book, with a heartfelt foreword by Pete Townshend and introduction by Kenney and Mac, is full of previously unseen photos and rare memorabilia, a career overview by esteemed Mojo magazine scribe Mark Paytress, The box is crammed full with exclusive extras, such as replicas of three of the rarest Small Faces EPs in colored vinyl, an impossibly rare Olympic Studios acetate, large-size repro posters, fine art prints, 64-page fully illustrated lyric booklet, collectors postcards and more, all paying testament to the enduring musical genius of the Small Faces. www.thesmallfaces.com
What’s In The Box?
Lavishly illustrated 72 page hardbound coffee table book:
Introduction by Kenney & Mac plus a foreword by Pete Townshend.
Over 90 classic, rare & previously unpublished photos & memorabilia.
Definitive sleeve notes include new & archive interviews.
Exclusive Gered Mankowitz interview on photographing ‘Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake’.
Track-by-track illustrated guide to every song on the box set.
Lyric Booklet:
64-page fully illustrated song booklet with rare photos & memorabilia.
Complete lyrics transcribed & endorsed by band members for the first time ever.
Red, white and blue coloured vinyl:
Three replica 7-inch EPs of the rarest Small Faces vinyl originally released in 1967:
• Small Faces album sampler – Excerpts from the Small Faces LP.
• Here Come The Nice 4 song French EP in picture sleeve.
• Itchycoo Park 4 song French EP in picture sleeve.
Replica Studio Acetate:
Olympic Sound Studios one-off acetate pressing for Andrew Loog-Oldham for the song Mystery.
Two large reproduction posters:
Reproductions of original posters for the Tin Soldier single featuring photography by Gered Mankowitz Newcastle City Hall live concert from 1968.
Press kit for Ogden’s Gone Nut Flake:
Rare 6-panel Immediate Records Press Kit from 1968.
Double sided postcards:
Five collector’s edition postcards with rare photos of each Small Faces band member backed with memorabilia from the Immediate Records Archive.
Fine art prints:
Two beautiful prints provided by Gered Mankowitz from his 1967 Itchycoo Park photo sessions.
CD1 – Small Faces Singles Worldwide As Bs & Eps:
1. Here Come The Nice (mono) 2:55
2. Talk To You (mono) 2:05
3. (Tell Me) Have You Ever Seen Me (mono) 2:15
4. Something I Want To Tell You (mono) 2:07
5. Get Yourself Together (mono) 2:16
6. Become Like You (mono) 1:56
7. Green Circles (mono) 2:32
8. Eddie’s Dreaming (b-side edit) (mono) 2:41
9. Itchycoo Park (mono) 2:44
10. I’m Only Dreaming (mono) 2:22
11. Tin Soldier (mono) 3:19
12. I Feel Much Better (mono) 3:55
13. Lazy Sunday (mono) 3:02
14. Rollin’ Over (Part II of Happiness Stan) (mono) 2:12
15. Mad John (single version) (mono) 2:07
16. The Journey (single version) (mono) 2:51
17. The Universal (mono) 2:42
18. Donkey Rides, A Penny A Glass (mono) 2:47
19. Afterglow Of Your Love (single version) (mono) 3:22
20. Wham Bam Thank You Mam (mono) 3:18
Original Immediate single versions. Taken from original mono master tapes.
CD2 – Small Faces In The Studio – Olympic, IBC & Trident Sessions – Part 1:
1. Shades Of Green (mono) 0:38
2. Green Circles (take 1) (mono) 1:04
3. Green Circles (take 1 alt mix 1) (mono) 2:45
4. Anything (tracking session) (stereo) 3:46
5. Anything (backing track) (stereo) 3:06
6. Show Me The Way (stripped down mix) (stereo) 2:09
7. Wit Art Yer (tracking session) (mono) 2:50
8. Wit Art Yer (backing track) (stereo) 2:27
9. I Can’t Make It (alt mix) (stereo) 2:26
10. Doolally (tracking session) (mono) 4:06
11. What’s It Called? (overdub session) (mono) 0:36
12. Call It Something Nice (take 9) (stereo) 2:04
13. Wide Eyed Girl (take 2) (stereo) 1:43
14. Wide Eyed Girl On The Wall (alt mix) (stereo) 3:28
15. Donkey Rides, A Penny A Glass (stripped down mix) (stereo) 3:21
16. Red Balloon With A Blue Surprise (take 5) (stereo) 0:46
17. Red Balloon (alt mix) (stereo) 4:29
18. Saieide Mamoon (tracking session) (stereo) 9:36
All tracks previously unreleased versions. Taken from original studio multitrack and session master tapes
CD3 – Small Faces In The Studio – Olympic, IBC & Trident Sessions – Part 2:
1. Wham Bam Thank You Mam (alt mix) (stereo) 3:22
2. I Can’t Make It (stripped down mix) (stereo) 2:33
3. This Feeling Of Spring (take 1) (stereo) 1:43
4. All Our Yesterdays (backing track) (mono) 2:09
5. Talk To You (alt mix) (stereo) 2:22
6. Mind The Doors Please (mono) 5:01
7. Things Are Going To Get Better (stripped down mix) (stereo) 2:43
8. Mad John (tracking session) (stereo) 3:58
9. A Collibosher (take 4) (stereo) 3:31
10. Lazy Sunday Afternoon (early mix) (mono) 3:00
11. Jack (backing track) (stereo) 3:35
12. Fred (backing track) (stereo) 3:06
13. Red Balloon (stripped down mix) (stereo) 1:33
14. Kolomodelomo (take 1) (stereo) 2:45
15. Donkey Rides, A Penny A Glass (alt mix) (stereo) 3:34
16. Jenny’s Song (take 2) (stereo) 4:04
All tracks previously unreleased versions. Taken from original studio multitrack and session master tapes
CD4 – Alternate Small Faces Outtakes & In Concert:
1. Itchycoo Park (take 1 stereo mix) (stereo) 2:50
2. Here Come The Nice (take 1 stereo mix) (stereo) 3:01
3. I’m Only Dreaming (take 1 stereo mix) (stereo) 2:23
4. Don’t Burst My Bubble (mono) 2:24
5. I Feel Much Better (stereo) 3:56
6. Green Circles (take 1 Italian version) (mono) 2:44*
7. Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow (alt mix) (stereo) 1:50*
8. Piccanniny (alt mix) (stereo) 3:02
9. Get Yourself Together (alt mix) (stereo) 2:18*
10. Eddie’s Dreaming (take 2 alt mix) (stereo) 2:44*
11. (Tell Me) Have You Ever Seen Me (take 2 alt mix) (stereo) 2:08*
12. Up The Wooden Hills To Bedfordshire (US alt mix) (mono) 2:00*
13. Afterglow Of Your Love (alt single version) (mono) 3:36*
14. (If You Think You’re) Groovy (mono) (The Lot Version)- P.P. Arnold & Small Faces 2:55
15. Me You And Us Too (mono) 3:32
16. The Universal (take 1 stereo mix) (stereo) 2:39
17. Rollin’ Over (live) (stereo) 2:29
18. If I Were A Carpenter (live) (stereo) 2:29
19. Every Little Bit Hurts (live) (stereo) 6:12
20. All Or Nothing (live) (stereo) 4:05
21. Tin Soldier (live) (stereo) 3:19
All tracks rare or * previously unreleased versions. Taken from original studio and session master tapes.
Live tracks recorded at Newcastle City Hall 18th November 1968. Taken from Pye Studios master tape, pitch and speed corrected.
Small Faces Box set vinyl:
• Small Faces Album Sampler – One-sided promo single – Excerpts From The Small Faces L.P. (mono)
The original 7″ vinyl was issued as a promotional single for the debut Immediate album. Featuring excepts from Get Yourself Together, Green Circles, Talk To You, All Our Yesterdays, Up The Wooden Hills To Bedfordshire with DJ Tommy Vance announcements, the original vinyl has gone on to become the rarest Small Faces single amongst collectors.
• Here Come The Nice – French E.P.
Here Come The Nice (mono) – This is the same performance as the regular ‘Here Come The Nice’ mixed to mono but similar to other releases at the time, was subjected to varispeed so plays slightly faster.
• Talk To You (mono)
Become Like You (mono)
Get Yourself Together (mono)
• Itchycoo Park – French E.P.
Itchycoo Park (mono)
I’m Onky Dreaming (mono)
Green Circles (mono)
Eddie’s Dreaming (mono)
Mystery – Replica acetate Intended to be a single, a handful of acetates of Mystery were produced for the band and Andrew Loog Oldham to check the mix. For unknown reasons, the single wasn’t released, and Ronnie went back into Olympic to record a new vocal during April 1967 for the newly entitled Something I Want To Tell You. This is a replica of the acetate delivered to Andrew Loog Oldham back in 1967.
7 is the 7th full-length record from Beach House. It marks the start of a new chapter for the band, who’ve been together for over 13 years and had most recently released an album of b-sides and rarities which they they described as “…a good step for us. It helped us clean the creative closet, put the past to bed, and start anew.”
The new album, 7, is about rebirth and rejuvenation for the group, allowing them the opportunity to rethink old methods in the writing and recording processes and shed some self-imposed limitations. They’ve delivered a truly remarkable work of art in this new album and we can’t wait for you all to experience it for yourselves.
Pre-orders of the album in any format will get early access to stream the record from your SubPop.com 2 weeks before the rest of the world does on May 11th (streaming starts on April 27th!).
Frankie Cosmos‘ new album, Vessel, is available for release on the 30th March from Sub Pop Records. While listening to the album you can also read along to this new feature on Pitchfork where Greta gives a short breakdown of every song on the album. The New York-native songwriter Greta Kline has shared a bounty of her innermost thoughts and experiences via the massive number of songs she has released since 2011. Like many of her peers, Kline’s prolific output was initially born from the ease of bedroom recording and self-releasing offered by digital technology and the internet. But, as she’s grown as a writer and performer, devising more complex albums and playing to larger audiences, Kline has begun to make her mark on the indie scene.
Her newest record, Vessel, is the 52nd release from Kline and the third studio album by her indie pop outfit Frankie Cosmos. On it, Kline explores all of the changes that have come in her life as a result of the music she has shared with the world, as well as the parts of her life that have remained irrevocable. Frankie Cosmos has taken several different shapes since their first full-band album, 2014’s Zentropy, erupted in New York’s DIY music scene. For the band’s lineup comprises multi-instrumentalists David Maine, Lauren Martin, Luke Pyenson, and Kline. The album’s 18 tracks employ a range of instrumentations and recording methods not found on the band’s prior albums, while maintaining the succinctly sincere nature of Kline’s songwriting.
1. “Caramelize”
Pitchfork: You talk a lot about light and grace and goodness on this song. It’s like the Gospel of Greta.
Greta Kline: I’m not trying to go for a spiritual vibe on this one, but I’ve always really liked religious language, and I read the Bible as literature in school. It’s so huge, but also specific. Spiritual words are used over and over again, so they become bigger than a single word, and this song has a little bit of that. The “you” changes throughout, and it’s about so many different kinds of relationships, and parts of my life, and how they’re patched together.
I actually have a lot of fans that are really religious. There were these students in a priest school who messaged me on Facebook five years ago telling me they loved my music. It’s weird, because I feel that some of my songs are almost too irreverent for that, but it’s cool that anyone can hear their own thing in them.
2. “Apathy”
One line in this song really stands out to me: “I just want to feel like I’m neatly designed/Like a telephone pole.” What inspired your writing here?
I wrote that lyric when I was on tour feeling crazy and wishing that I had a clear purpose that I was designed for; I was in a car driving past a bunch of telephone poles, which are perfectly built. When I hear that line, I think “Oh yeah, duh.” It’s not super poetic. I love poetry, but I’m more inspired by the small moments throughout my life that have meaning. I went through a weird archiving phase when I was younger, where I wanted to capture it all. I was so fixated on archiving my friendships, and my thoughts, my everything. That was kind of how Frankie Cosmos started.
3. “As Often as I Can”
You address your listeners here, telling them, “I love you.”
I love interacting with the audience onstage and telling them, “I love you.” That’s part of why I put that in, because it’s so fun to get to say that out loud to different people every night.
4. “This Stuff”
There’s a lyric from this song that I found funny and kind of sad: “I’m living in a condo/It replaced your favorite movie theater though.”
I feel like a cheater, because someone else told me that story. But the poetic part is me choosing to put it in the song, right? I remember walking around with a friend, and they talked about how their favorite movie theater was being turned into a condo. That’s not funny, but it would make a funny line: That living there would destroy the thing that someone you love also loves.
5. “Jesse”
Why did you guys decide this should be the first single from Vessel? It sounds bigger than most Frankie Cosmos songs.
It’s one of my favorite songs on the record. It also has five instruments, the usual four plus an extra guitar, which is exciting and new. Having someone who was not in the band write a second guitar part for a song was scary, and it took me accepting that the song wasn’t going to sound the same live. Our records are almost like recorded versions of our live set, and I don’t like having a bunch of parts on the record that we can’t achieve live. So coming to terms with the live set being different from the album arrangement was a big part of letting the sound get a little bigger.
“Duet”
You originally released this song in 2014, and you revived some old songs on your last album as well. How do you decide which ones to revisit?
We do it because certain old songs get requested at shows, and we feel like we have to make band versions later. But the more I revisit those old songs, the more they take on different meanings. It’s like reading your old diary, and thinking “wow” at how specific it was. There’s this whole emotional experience to re-learning my old songs, and there are a lot of realizations about my life back then that I can only make now.
7. “Accommodate”
In this song you introduce the idea of how the body can fail you when you need it.
A lot of this album is about this feeling of disconnect between myself and my body, but on “Accommodate,” I’m describing the experience of being a woman; what being born into this body means for the rest of my experience in the world. I really think that my body was not meant to exist in this atmosphere. I’m allergic to everything and I’m weak! Is your body a part of who you are or does it contain all of who you are? Does it stop you from fully being yourself? I don’t know.
8. “I’m Fried”
The lyric “I just wanna know that I would walk away from wrong” stands out to me. What does that mean to you?
For a long time, I wasn’t giving enough love to myself, and it made me so tired. I was like, “I need to figure out how to take care of myself.” “I’m Fried” is all about that, so the line is about wanting to know that I’m gonna be looking out for myself. Not that I’m gonna walk away from being a bad person, but knowing that I’m not going to get myself into situations that are harmful.
9. “Hereby”
This is the halfway point of the album, and it’s the most heartbreaking song on here. Were you aiming to structure the record to have that hurt come midway through?
We thought it’d be a good end to Side A. It’s harsh, and feels like a punctuation mark to the section. It’s also written almost entirely in words that were pulled from a contract. The lyrics are in a very legal language. It was funny to write in this cold way about this sad, personal moment. It’s like, “Here are the facts: I will not be your friend.”
10. “Ballad of R & J”
As opposed to the other songs on the album, this one is a narrative with fictional characters and a story arc.
The song is about being far away from the person you love and not being able to tell if they actually love you. The story was so sad that I refused to sing it, which is why my bandmates sing the choruses. It’s the only Frankie Cosmos song, ever, probably, where I don’t sing the whole thing. The characters in the song, Julie and Ricky, aren’t exactly based on my past relationships, but I wanted to explore who they could be and what they meant to each other. When a feeling is really big and hard to face within myself, I can use fictional narratives to deal with it, and write about it without having to actually ask myself how I’m feeling. It’s the songwriting equivalent of “asking for a friend.”
11. “Ur Up”
At the beginning of this track, you can hear someone in the background telling you the tape is rolling, and you mess up on the piano a little bit. It’s one of the most intimate moments on the album.
I liked keeping the mess-up in there because I love how sweet Hunter [Davidsohn], our recording engineer, sounds when he says, “No, keep going, it’s good.” It’s a little glimpse into the tender moments in the studio.
12. “Being Alive”
There are all these super fast tempo changes on this song.
Our drummer Luke [Pyenson] is very fancy! I can’t remember exactly what happened with arranging “Being Alive,” but my best guess would be to give Luke credit for the tempo. And since forming this band, I’ve gotten way more comfortable singing and messing around on guitar. I’ve been able to come up with really different stuff than I would have on Zentropy.
13. “Bus Bus Train Train”
Your dog, Joe Joe, seems to float throughout so much of your music. Here, he appears as a taxidermy sculpture in a museum.
He’s my best friend and the reason I never moved away from New York. I wanted to be here and spend time with him while he was still alive. Then he died my first year of college, so I was like, “Great.” That one part in this song came from a trip to RISD—I was visiting a friend, and there was this weird room where they had with all these taxidermy animals. But I also think that line is about trying to find him, and trying to find home, wherever I am in the world. For me, Joe Joe represents home.
So I don’t think that line is morbid, and I don’t even feel sad talking about him, because it really feels like he’s alive. This is going to sound really freaky, but I feel like part of his soul entered me when he died, and now I’m part dog. When I make eye contact, dogs will run, pulling their owners towards me to hang out. I feel like I’m almost one of them.
14. “My Phone”
The message of this one—about trying to keep relationships offline—is super relatable. Do you think love can rise above the need to be plugged in all the time?
Real love obviously goes infinitely deeper than technology, and you should be able to feel loved by someone, give love, and have them trust you without having to constantly be texting. I’m a really slow texter, and I’m really bad at responding to people, and none of that matters when you’re hanging out in person. But as a touring musician, I do spend a lot of time on my phone. So many of my relationships exist there, and sometimes feel like I only have friends because I’m texting them or seeing them on Instagram. It’s a weird way to exist.
15. “Cafeteria”
This is a secretly dark one: There’s all these feelings of doubt hidden right beneath this bright sound.
Lots of life is constantly putting on a brave face and not exactly giving everyone the true experience of what you’re feeling. So my songs are a fun place to sneak in those thoughts, right underneath a happy melody, or make something that sounds like a love song but is actually really sad. And “Cafeteria” is so fun to play because it’s all this bouncing around, and it has my favorite lyrics to sing live: “I had sex once, now I’m dead.” It’s insane to be on stage and see everyone get so quiet after I sing that. I always imagine that people can tell that it’s funny. But in my head, I’m almost waiting, wondering: “Are people gonna laugh at that line?”
16. “The End”
This sounds almost like an old Frankie Cosmos song, like a rough demo uploaded straight to Bandcamp.
I recorded it a day after a breakup, right into my computer mic. It’s pure emotion, and not thought through at all. I hadn’t figured out my future, or plans for later. I was sitting alone in this room that I shared with this person who doesn’t love me anymore, and I was like, “Gotta move.”
Did you try to edit or spruce up the song later?
Trust me, if I had recorded it a month later, it would have different lyrics. Because the feeling was so pure and fast. We tried to arrange it with the band, but I was like, “Let’s not waste any more time on this, the demo’s going on the album.” I had this intense feeling that it had to be the demo. It’s my first ever GarageBand song that made it onto vinyl. It was so exciting when I got the test pressing and heard this. I was freaking out.
17. “Same Thing”
Your music has been described as being like an elliptical, musical run-on sentence, and this song feels that way.
This makes me think of the bio for our press release. We were talking about what should go in it, and why we think that people should listen to this album, and I was like, “I don’t. I don’t care.” [laughs] Ultimately, there’s nothing that makes this album more special than any other of the albums. The idea is it’s another chapter, and there’s gonna be a million more. Yes, it’s special to me right now, but it’s also not as important as the 50 new songs I’ve written since. So I don’t know how to promote it, because I’m a person who’s writing a bunch of music all the time, and I’m hopefully gonna do it for many more years. This is just one episode, and I think that’s cool!
18. “Vessel”
How did this become the title for the record?
I had been thinking about the concept of vessels, and it applies to a lot of things I deal with on the album: Not feeling like a woman and not feeling like I was made to make babies; not feeling like a vessel for my art and being projected onto; not feeling like being a performer comes naturally to me. All this relates to how my body is here to support me or hinder me. The other part of it is that this song is partly about being in a band and making music with other people. A lot of this record is about making music.
