Heartache With Hard Work

I’ve been a big fan of Brandi Carlile for a long time. In fact, one of the very first posts on this very blog, all the way back in the spring of 2006, was an enthusiastic endorsement of her debut album. But over all these years, I’m not sure she’s written another song as beautiful as this one. Certainly none as likely to bring a tear to your eye. It’s a love letter to her daughter, one framed by a bracingly honest assessment of what it actually means to become a parent. And this is critical. By dwelling on the difficulties–the terror of knowing that you are now utterly responsible for someone else, the need to organize your life around someone else’s whims, the jealousy of seeing your friends still out enjoying all their free time–Carlile brings home just how powerful the experience really is.

It’s not simply that all those things are worth sacrificing for the sake of her daughter. It’s that having Evangeline in her life helps her to understand that every path comes with loss, that every choice carries the weight of all the roads not taken. But this choice has brought something precious into the world, whose simple presence is able to transform those feelings of loss into something very different. To give them purpose.

The result is a song that’s almost framed as an internal argument–a reminder that it’s okay to sometimes feel the weight as a burden, so long as you also keep in mind the new possibilities that it creates. As she sings:

And they’ve still got their morning paper and their coffee and their time
And they still enjoy their evenings with the skeptics and the wine
Oh, but all the wonders I have seen, I will see a second time
From inside of the ages through your eyes

And every time I hear it, my heart fills up so much that it feels ready to burst.

A little bit dream pop, a little bit shoegaze, and a little bit ambient. It’s a time-tested combination, and while Dustings doesn’t add anything particularly new to the equation, that doesn’t make this album any less affecting.

I haven’t been able to find out much about this band, which in many ways feels appropriate. This is not a record that reaches out and shakes you by the shoulders demanding your attention. It’s one that sneaks up quietly, nudging its way toward the edge of your consciousness. Pleasant, but elusive. Friendly, but mysterious.

On the whole, it’s an album of small gestures and whispered missives. And while it does let loose more than a few times, the explosion always feels tightly contained–like a tornado that whips through town and destroys one building while leaving the ones on either side completely untouched.

And I see from this interview, that Daniel Fritz, the artist behind Dustings lists Sadstyle by S as one of their all-time favorite albums, so it makes a lot of sense why I enjoy this record so much.

Twee pop always walks a bit of a tightrope. Done poorly, it can feel instantly nostalgic–a reference to youthful exuberance that lives far more in our memory than in real life. But done well, there’s a timelessness to it, an expression of innocence that lives on, stubbornly refusing to accede to the slings and arrows of fortune, holding out for the possibility of finding a way to stay present.

Nancy Sin live on the good side of that line. Their music is light and joyful, but with just enough sense of doubt to keep you honest. As they say: “maybe it was just a daydream / but who could know?”

Daydream is from a lovely EP called Fall For You, which came out this summer. Here’s hoping for more from them soon.

“What’s the Deal With David” is a glorious slice of indie pop, ready to warm your soul and soothe your fraying heart.  The engine of the song is a rollicking little bass line, which is then surrounded by a waterfall of ringing notes. Add in some wonderful vocal harmonies, and what’s quite possibly the year’s most infectious chorus, and the whole thing glitters like a rainbow peaking out after the storm.

Oh Pep! are from Melbourne, and their new album I Wasn’t Only Thinking About You​.​.​. drops on October 26.