My oft-mentioned enjoyment of that most basic of outdoor activities, walking, shouldn’t be taken as a commitment on my part to health or fitness. Okay, so I might have some veggie-burgers in my freezer, and the worst of my vices are probably chocolate and caffeine. But eschewing cigarettes and alcohol all ones life and walking to the store to buy soda instead of riding in a vehicle probably don’t have much of an impact when fried foods and sugary snacks remain on your menu.
If I did smoke and drink though you can bet your sweet ass that I’d require special music to listen to whenever I chose to indulge my hypothetical booze and tobacco fetish. The fact of the matter is, I own a whole bunch of records I’d find suitable for such an occasion already, but earlier today I happened upon a song I couldn’t help but think had “hooch and smokes” written all over it. It’s called “If Not For Love,” and it’s the standout track from singer-songwriter Kris Delmhorst’s newest album Shotgun Singer.
Molassus slow, with trickily hiccuping snares, reverb-thickened kick-drums, ominous toms, warm electric piano chords, tolling xylophone notes, the most subtle of samples (including a couple of nice vocal bits on the bridge) and a simmeringly sexy Soul and Jazz-inflected vocal, “If Not for Love” is regretfully melancholic gin-joint introspection in audio form. And while it may not be as genuinely gritty sounding as that band’s output, it’s definitely indebted to the dark, smoky, cinematic, noir-cabaret Portishead pioneered.
Kris Delmhorst “If Not for Love”
When I looked into Delmhorst, who I hadn’t heard of previously, I learned that was from a nearby area of Massachusetts and that she’d recorded Shotgun Singer herself in rural cabin, bringing in a few collaborators to embellish her own playing. I’d hoped the rest of the LP would stack up against “If Not For Love.” But I found most of it, though a lovingly crafted melange of Folk, Country, so-called “Roots” music and “traditional” Orchestral-Pop, was on some MOR/AC, Lilith Fair, Starbucks-counter schtick, which just isn’t my bag.
Still, it’s the digital age, so I’m sure “If Not for Love” can be purchased all by its lonesome if your tastes mirror my own. And if you’re looking for something completely different you can always pick up “Zodiac Girls,” the new two-song single from previous Blogarhythms featurees, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Black Moth Super Rainbow, another act fond of recording in a cabin in the woods, while you’re at it. Though if you’re searching for music to supplement your recreational substance-abuse, I can only assume this stuff’s more suited to psychedelic fungi and tobacco of the “wacky” variety.
“Ziodiac Girls” is vintage BMSR; fuzzy analog synth-bass, grain-distorted keyboards, a hard-hitting, repetitive drum-break, sweeping synths, tripped-out lyricism, child-like chorus harmonies and their signature vocoded vocals. The “b-side” cut, “The Fields Are Breathing (Tobacco’s Wispy Version),” slows the pace, strips the band’s usually overflowing arrangements down to acoustic guitar & (vocoded) vocals, and ups the freaky Hippie quotient considerably with it’s campfire sing-a-long vibe, la-la-la chorus and hallucinatory songwriting.
Black Moth Super Rainbow “Zodiac Girls”
Health-food-addicted exercise freaks, teetotaling inner-city-based music aficionados, emphysema-addled boozehounds, earthy-crunchy vegan coffehouse chicks, vintage synthesizer collectors and smelly flower-bedecked drainbows may not have a lot in common. But we all need music to match our individual personalities and foibles. And those of us for whom our only true addiction is music itself might even listen to all of it if given the chance.
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