Like I just said, I've been spending a lot of time on twitter lately - not only does it take about three seconds to share something like a tour announcement, a new video or an update about one of my favorite bands, it has also given me the opportunity to do something I've always been hesitant to do here on the blog - be really, really honest. Not that I'm not honest on Out the Other, but I've always been a fan of the motto "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all," particularly cause saying non-nice stuff takes TIME, and that's something I always seem to be lacking. But when saying something non-nice takes only three seconds? BAM - I just told you I'm a little disappointed in the new Jamie T album. In fact, I'm less overwhelmed by all my new music these days because I can regularly do "new music days" on twitter, where I briefly give you my thoughts on five new albums I'm listening to that day.
But, I need to remember that my twitter audience and my blog audience (not to mention my radio show audience) are not all one and the same. And once in a while there's something that definitely needs a bit more attention, not to mention the most awesomely awesome thing about a music blog - the opportunity for you to hear what I'm talking about.
Yesterday I got a copy of DM Stith's album Heavy Ghost. His name came up the night before in conversation, and while I had some name recognition when it came to Stith, that was about it. Heavy Ghost came out on Asthmatic Kitty earlier this year in March, and it somehow slipped under my radar until yesterday, which makes me immensely sad because I could have spent the last six months of the year enjoying this album.
I put Heavy Ghost on repeat in a loop with the newest Odawas album, The Blue Depths, yesterday at work, and after about three laps through, I just kept DM Stith on repeat. And I listened to that album on repeat ALL day. I mean, an eight hour day at my desk with one album on repeat - I can't remember the last time that happened - in fact, I can't remember that EVER happening.
The tricky thing about listening to an album that many times is that around listen #12, I completely lose the ability to describe how I felt about it at the beginning. As it drifted in and out of my thoughts, my work, my conversations, and my ears all day, it felt less like an album that was "growing on me" and more like an album that was growing into me. Like instead of gazing at a beautiful sky and landscape for hours on end until I completely familiarized myself with it, I actually laid in a field and let the sun tan my skin, let the smell of the grass and dirt seep into my hair. Instead of soundtracking my day, the album became a part of my day, and I fell in love with the length and width and depth of it, which is why I'm having so much difficulty sitting here choosing which songs to share with you at the end of this post.
(See, this is why I should stick with twitter. All of this talking and I'm not even saying anything.)
I think you best skip to the end and listen to the songs themselves, but if you're interested, and you're a regular reader/listener/follower of Out the Other, I think I can safely say that DM Stith will appeal to those of you who love Grizzly Bear, Department of Eagles and Radical Face. I hear elements of each in Heavy Ghost - and it's not just that Stith's voice tends to remind me of Daniel Rossen's - in fact, I would lump this album into the same category of "elevated indie folk" that I would use to describe the other three. Gorgeous harmonies, hypnotic rhythms and haunting pianos lead you gently by the wrist through the album, but it's that something else, the "elevated" in "elevated indie rock" that really captures your attention and clicks the repeat button. There's an element of surprise, of discord, something interesting and unexpected that twists and reshapes and reveals each song as something even more beautiful for being different. I'm in too deep to accurately capture it in words at this point, but suffice it to say I've already listened to it three times again today.
"Creekmouth"
"Thanksgiving Moon"
Heavy Ghost is out now on Asthmatic Kitty.
