Weekly Music Roundup: The National, 070 Shake, and Roberto Fonseca
Week of Sept. 25: This week, a National surprise, a gothic turn for 070 Shake, and a return for The Polyphonic Spree. Plus, Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca, David Cieri’s new score to an old film, and lap-tapping guitarist Yasmin Williams.
The National Release Surprise LP With Stunning Ending
Indie rockers The National have never really been known as a prolific band, so when they released their album The First Two Pages Of Frankenstein earlier this year, it seemed like they were done for a while. But now comes Laugh Track, a surprise album largely written at the same time as the previous record. And to anyone who has thought that the band, after more than 20 years and nine full LPs, might have become a known quantity, here is a rejoinder that ends on a high note – though not literally. Closing track “Smoke Detector” is an almost eight-minute epic that, harmonically speaking, goes nowhere. Matt Berninger’s lyrics ping-pong between suggestions of madness and professions of earnest love; his voice slips into the cracks between speech and song. In the left and right channels, Bryce and Aaron Dessner attack their guitars until they sound like power tools. And in the center of it all is Bryan Devendorf’s relentless drumming – not flashy (for the most part) but irresistibly propulsive – leading the band into a whole new sonic terrain.
070 Shake Turns To The Dark Side In New Single
One of the interesting things about 070 Shake’s music is how it can draw on hip hop, electronic music, and pop without finding itself stuck in any of those boxes. Her new single, “Black Dress,” skews dark and vaguely gothic – “I still can see your bone structure” is a repeating line, and in the chorus she sings “my baby was in a black dress when she married me” – and no one who’s ever heard the song “Long Black Veil” will miss the intimations of death there. A programmed hip hop beat underscores the cinematic electronics behind her voice, giving the song a kind of Gary Numan-meets-Kanye vibe. And the creepy video, beginning with the wreckage of a plane crash with 070 Shake singing while suspended with a parachute in a tree, does nothing to clear up the story but certainly fits the song’s mood.
Big Fun From Cuba’s Roberto Fonseca
Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca has done a fair amount of touring with members of the famed Buena Vista Social Club, but he’s also released a string of records on his own. His new one, La Gran Diversion (“Big Fun”) is basically a tribute to the sounds of mid-century Cuban music, but filtered through his love of jazz, classical, funk, and contemporary pop styles. With lots of horns and guest vocals from Carlos Calunga of Buena Vista Social Club, Fonseca sets up dance grooves both easygoing and sweaty. Yes, there’s mambo, but there are – as there always are on Fonseca’s records – surprises as well: closing track “Osini” uses the horns to produce what almost sounds like electric guitar power chords, and this opening track, “Yanim,” contains echoes of the music of the Balkans over its classic Afro-Cuban beat. (Yanim means “beloved” in Macedonian.) Wherever it’s from, it’s an invitation to dance – an invitation you’ll need to accept if you listen to the whole LP.
The Polyphonic Spree Are Back, As Polyphonic As Ever
I never really knew what to make of The Polyphonic Spree back in the aughts when they seemed to be one of the more visible indie bands – the sight of two dozen singers in robes was kind of cult-y, but the appeal of all those voices singing together could be undeniable. Front man/songwriter Tim DeLaughter and his merry band haven’t been around much for the past decade, but they’ve just announced a return LP, called Salvage Enterprise, and released a new single called “Galloping Seas (Section 44).” (All of their song titles have section numbers – this one, the first track on the forthcoming LP, follows the last track on Yes, It’s True, ten years ago, which was section 43.) Starting softly, with just DeLaughter and his acoustic guitar, the song gradually swells into grand, Polyphonic Spree territory, as DeLaughter acknowledges the turbulent times we are living in but encourages us to see it through, and things will get better. How? Well, the sound of the chorus when they join in suggests that sticking together might be a big part of the plan.
Trees Communicate Through A Hidden Network; Dominique Fils-Aimé Thinks We Do Too.
Canadian singer Dominique Fils-Aimé layers her voice to form a virtual choir in the title track from her new LP, Our Roots Run Deep. Some of the voices are wordless, and you get the feeling we’re in Bobby McFerrin territory, where the whole “band” is vocal; but eventually a genuine band enters behind her, and by the end of the song, a kind of jazz dance party breaks out, as Fils-Aimé continues her celebration of the hidden connections in nature and between all of us. The natural sounds at the beginning and end of the song place us in the natural world, which becomes a repeated touchstone for the songs on her album, which is planned to be the first in a trilogy.
A New Score For A Great Silent Film Gets An Even Newer Recording
David Cieri has joined the list of composers who’ve written new soundtracks for the still-stunning 1928 film The Passion Of Joan Of Arc, a perennial fixture on film critics’ lists of the best movies ever made. This past January, we presented a screening of the film in the Winter Garden atrium at Brookfield Place with Cieri and his ensemble playing his score live, and while he had recorded the music commercially already, the score has lots of room for improvisation and variation. Pleased with the results, Cieri and the record label, Ropeadope, made the unusual decision to release this second recording of the score. New Sounds WNYC Presents - Live at The Winter Garden NYC - The Passion of Joan of Arc features a hybrid ensemble that includes waterphone, synthesizer, and a brief bagpipe cameo. The sound – like the film – is often intense and discomfiting, but perhaps the most striking element is the vocal quartet Tenores De Aterue, an American group that studies and performs the traditional “tenores” style of Sardinian choral music. They begin and end the piece, and resurface at a key moment in the middle of the score as well. “Boghe 'e Notte di Tenore Santa Sarbana Silanus” is the opening – and for a film about a person who famously heard voices, hearing these earthy yet unearthly voices is the perfect start.
Yasmin Williams Offers First Look At Her Next LP
The extraordinary guitarist Yasmin Williams has developed a style that combines conventional (though quite virtuosic) fingerpicking with a tapping technique that involves laying the instrument on her lap and raining fingers down on the strings; it has caused astonishment wherever she’s played, including in several of our New Sounds Live events. Now, she’s signed to the prestigious Nonesuch label, and will be releasing an album with them next year. The first single from that record is called “Dawning,” and it’s an easy-going, subtle piece that features the wordless vocals of Aoife O’Donovan, as well as Kafari on bones and Nic Gareiss doing percussive dancing. (Yasmin often wears taps on her shoes and does her own live percussion while performing.) “Dawning” has the pastoral feel of some of the old Windham Hill music of the 80s/90s, as well as hints of her interest in West African music and jazz. The full album should be coming out early next year, although those details haven’t been announced yet.
