I've been fighting a cold (and losing) recently, and as a result I've been spending lots of time snuggled in bed under multiple blankets and comforters. This morning, sitting at my desk with that floaty-head feeling that always accompanies a cold and immediately follows obscene amounts of sleep, I realized that I was feeling much better - but also much crappier. Better because I felt healthier (and that means the cold is officially on its way out); crappier because all I wanted was to be back in bed.
I put on J. Tillman's new release, Vacilando Territory Blues - what I wanted was something quiet, something peaceful, something subdued. And listening to the album did something wonderful - it somehow captured a bit of that wrapped-in-blankets feeling that I was missing today.
Tillman is a member of Fleet Foxes, a band that seems well on its way to becoming a household name with the release of their self-titled full length debut, Fleet Foxes, earlier this year (at least a household name in... you know, households with music blogs). But while that record is lovely, and I may actually write about it this month, there's something about Tillman's music that connects with me in a way Fleet Foxes haven't yet. I think it really started when I included "My Waking Days" in my Whistle While You Work Mix about a year and a half ago - hearing that song was the first time I realized Tillman was a singer who had the ability to make my heart stop. And everything I have heard by him before that and since has been wonderful in a similar way - his voice and his music feel like being wrapped in a warm pile of blankets on a freezing cold, rainy day. It's that sense of comfort and warmth with a hint of something dark and chilly and sad haunting the edges.
"Vessels"
"Steel on Steel"
Vacilando Territory Blues is available digitally now, but the record will see a physical release in January - hopefully the powers that be will realize this one deserves to be on vinyl.
