The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
Every Tuesday, the Sounding Board is a space for a short-ish review of a recent-ish release and conversations about new-to-you music. We’ll get things started with a write-up about a newer, likely underheard album, and invite you to share your music musings in the comments. This week, I’m breaking format to write about an upcoming release.
Bending Backwards’ debut album is a curious mix of influences and allusions that could easily creep by upon the waters.
Still and quiet brother are you still and quiet is a first LP from a Copenhagen-based trio,1 just eight songs long and fairly substantially disconnected from commercially viable music trends of the past or present. It is, in other words, an album that would be easy to miss. However, those who seek it out will be rewarded with an LP that combines garage rock simplicity with art-rock instrumentation and reverence for postmodern writers.2 It’s an unlikely mix that can stir dull roots and suitably soundtrack cooling, graying October days.
In their base form, Bending Backwards are a no-frills trio with Frederik Blæsild Vuust singing, Johannes Østlund Jacobsen drumming and Halfdan Magnus Stefansson playing guitar. This lean, not quite mean, version of the band is the one that kicks off still and quiet brother are you still and quiet.
“Bend You Out of Shape,” the album-opener and second pre-release single, is an immediate, accessible song with shimmering guitar and Vuust’s high, sweet croon leading the charge. Varied percussion — what sounds like both hand-struck drums and wood block enter the fray — adds energy to the song and hints at the complexity of later songs.
“Endless Hours” serves as a surprising introduction to the ornate instrumentation that pops up throughout the album. The song initially scans as a Bob Mould-approved rocker with whirring guitar and a muddier mix. Then, the trumpets come in. The quick blasts do not fully cut through the guitar din, but they give the song a tarnished brass backbone, even more momentum and provide precedent for the brass, strings and tape loops that follow.
While Bending Backwards is a humble trio, the band’s friends have trumpets, cellos, musical saws and French horns, and they know how to use them. This is a major boon for the album. The alternative rock of the LP’s first two tracks winds up being a bit of a feint, with few moments that match the relatively keyed-up energy. That’s not entirely a good thing since Bending Backwards are an interesting, young rock band, but it has a significant silver lining. The move toward staid sounds creates more space for the lush flourishes and makes them more important to the structural integrity of the rest of still and quiet brother are you still and quiet’s songs.
Whether the extra touch is rich French horn or a delicate glissando, the result is almost always additive. The extra drone provided by cello on the already meditative “You Are My Love,” which is a lovely example of the gravity inherent to Vuust‘s voice, is an especially nice touch. Ditto the way French horn, cello and guitar mingle for a subdued-but-interesting conversation on the album’s final song, “Dedicated to My Younger Brother.”
Bending Backwards’ contrasting alt-rock and art-rock sides overlap most on “Skating the Sky.” That song starts with a drum beat, which in turn gives Bending Backwards a peg to hang an angular guitar lick on. What seems like an agreeable mid-tempo college rock song reveals itself to be a smidge stranger when the drums and guitar go silent, replaced by twinkling ripples of chime-like percussion and French horn. The original instrumentation returns, but not for long before there’s another brief falling pixie dust interlude and a slower, sludgier and heavier outro caps the track.
While it’d be nice to hear the band expand on some of the heavier sounds that make brief appearances on the album, still and quiet brother are you still and quiet, is ultimately a satisfying listen and an interest-piquing introduction to Bending Backwards. It’s the kind of album that will make you say: “Well, now that’s done: and I’m sad it’s over.”
About the writer
Ben Hohenstatt
Ben Hohenstatt is an Alaska-based dog owner who moonlights as a music writer and photographer.
For more information, consult your local library or with parental permission visit his website.
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The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
Department of
Conversation
What did we watch?
Superstore, Season Two, Episode Eight, “Election Day”
“I’ve already had three meals!”
“It’s not even seven! That’s too many meals.”
This definitely feels like the exact issue that would unite Amy and Jonah.
“The building got an F in tornado preparedness.”
“Also, a lot of horses died. I forgot about the horses.”
“Nobody paid those horses to die.”
“It means I’m an illegal alien.” Off Cheyenne’s face: “No. I am human.”
“Chey! You are so much smarter than what I tell people!”
Casting a really hot guy as the customer nudging a kid out of his way with a car is hilarious to me.
“What?! A corporation doing something unethical to protect its interests?!”
Mateo’s disgust at nobody knowing James Brolin makes him very sympathetic.
“I appreciate it. The thought. Not the sticker. Because it’s useless. Garbage.”
“She’s either playing dumb or just… is.”
Notice I’m not writing down Jonah and Amy’s lines, and that’s because Garret’s mocking of them is very complicated and I didn’t want to pause.
“Did you say ‘prison’ or ‘prism’?”
“Why would he say ‘prism’? What’s five years in prism?”
At least in theory, Jonah having a non-specified romantic relationship with no labels would be only annoying in that I had to write all that, but because I’m not invested in the Amy/Jonah romance, it’s annoying.
“Rats gave birth in the nacho cheese. Cooked themselves to death.”
“You think they’re serious?”
“Yeah, they’ve had sex like a eleven times.”
“Really?”
“I don’t know! Why would I know that?”
“WE’RE HAVING A CASUAL CONVERSATION!”
Home Movies
Entering the Flash era of the show; I mourn the delightful scrappiness but appreciate how abandoning the restroscripting has led to them making more ambitious animation, like animating Shannon’s head rotating around for some reason as well as the more complex emotional arcs. It’s tempting to see it as a dry run for Bob’s Burgers – the creepy Muppet-esque duo certainly are a dry run for Ollie and Andy – but the fact that this is largely the work of Brendon Small as opposed to Loren Bouchard (let alone a large team of writers) cannot be discounted, as it’s much sadder and more biting than BB. I was surprised and delighted by the serialisation, too – Paula losing her job, the introduction of Brendan’s dad.
Hah, yeah, Jonah and Amy was one of the odder Obligatory Future Couples in recent (good) sitcom history… where you expect it because they’re the leads, but they’re both kind of annoying, and it doesn’t make senwe when you think about it a bit.
I just rewatched “The Party” recently (as well as a few others) because I just never get tired of the climax of McGuirk putting Fenton in his place – wildly inappropriate and absolutely necessary.
Walter and Perry! I don’t know why Walter (I think it’s Walter) looks like he might be a different species than everyone else.
It almost makes sense in that both are self-righteous and, let’s face it, so close in their views and how they express them that it makes sense they’re constantly bickering. But yeah, for the most part, it feels like something they put in the show because that’s what they think you put in a sitcom – that you have to have a romantic will-they-won’t-they between the male and female leads. It got me appreciating that Community let it evolve naturally over the first three seasons – Jeff and Britta make sense in the pilot, and then their relationship becomes casual, then they kind of burn off it over a year or two. Certainly at this point, if I ever made a sitcom, I’d just let the relationships evolve naturally. Start with nobody in relationships and then find the chemistry.
Interesting as they make more sense than a lot of will they/won’t they couples to me, especially (not much of a spoiler) in how easy they are together once they figure it out.* Helps that Feldman and Ferrara have very good chemistry.
*Then again I like being in relationships where I can spar with the other person a bit.
All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea – the new film by British documentarian Jeanie Finlay (who made Sound it Out, Your Fat Friend and the Game of Thrones doc, among others). This was a screening with the director and a producer in attendance, and a Q&A hosted by novelist Jon McGregor whose work I’m also a fan of, which was pretty cool.
The film is about a recent ecological disaster that has heavily disrupted the fishing industry in the northeast of England – a story I was completely unfamiliar with, which is part of the point. That part of the country is pretty heavily neglected so it’s disturbingly easy for a crisis like this to be swept under the rug like it isn’t a serious issue that affects the wellbeing of the whole country. The filmmaker spent time with local fisherman and followed their progress as they tried to get the UK government to treat the issue with the respect and concern that it deserves, to infuriating effect as both local and national representatives prioritise new business over ecological issues and long-established local trades.
It’s a beautiful and bleak film that really shows the character of the local area and its inhabitants. There’s a real kinda underdog / “David and Goliath” feel to their campaign which seems ridiculous when we’re talking about the mass extinction of wildlife… but that’s the state we find ourselves in these days. Anyway, I loved the film and also it made me deeply angry. Good Q&A too, none of those terrible “how can I make this about me?” questions you sometimes get at these things.
Hasan Piker’s appearance on Ziwe – as he said, he wasn’t ripped apart as much as expected. I also enjoyed their staring contest where he broke. I dunno if I’m really a fanboy but (1) nothing he believes is particularly unreasonable, despite my being more of an anarchist than commie, and (2) if you’re more outraged by a champagne socialist than Chuck Schumer, it is my luxury, nay my privilege, to not take you seriously.
We need to bring back “champagne socialist”.
Is the term “limousine liberal” still in parlance?
RACE WITH THE DEVIL: From the mid early 1970s (when this movie was produced) through the mid 1990s my parents took my sibling and me on numerous trips within California and Arizona in RV’s. Beginning in 1979 we did this touring in a 32′ Vogue motor home, so seeing one used as a sanctuary for weekend warrior tourists from rural Satanists brought back memories, although I should point out that the San Juaquin and Central Valley’s appeared to be Devil-worshipping death cult free from what I could tell. Lots of free flowing margaritas and beer flowing as well. As one should demand of a 60s hicksploitation film, it has amazing stunt work, plenty of cars getting smashed up, and Warren Oates and Peter Fonda. Sadly, Loretta Swit is really underutilized. It didn’t exceed my expectations, but it didn’t betray them either.
RACE WITH THE DEVIL has another great performance by Oates, which has the much needed benefit of allowing Fonda to turn in a rather decent performance.
Oates is doing all the heavy lifting, which requires some expert timing in knowing which moments to bring out the loser qualities of his character (which, crucially, tend to inform his unwise decisions), and then telegraphing (before the shit hits the fan), with one look: “Don’t think we’re gonna make it out of here, but it’d sure be nice if we did”.
One break this movie makes with cliches with this variety of story is that Oates isn’t exactly a fish out of water in dealing with these situations. He knows how vehicles operate and how to make repairs (as does Fonda) and has a keen sense of deduction when it comes to sensing something wrong in the environment (A school-bus wreck on Sunday with uninjured kids running around? That dog don’t hunt.) There are some narrative parallells between this and DELIVERANCE, with Oates as the Burt Reynolds character.
What did we listen to?
St Anger, Metallica
Yeah, I can see why Metallica fans hated this. Though as a confirmed Metallica skeptic, only the drums and the much dumber lyrics really bothered me – to be honest, all Metallica lyrics come off cheesy to me, so it took things like the infamous “MY LIFESTYLE DETERMINES MY DEATHSTYLE” and the “KILL KILL KILL” that ends the album to irritate me. I did kind of like “Some Kind of Monster”.
“Some Kind of Monster”* is legitimately very good song. I also have a soft spot for “The Unnamed Feeling” and “Dirty Window”, despite the almost inexcusably dumb lyrics on the latter.
Give the documentary a go some time. It’s kinda nutty.
Been playing some of the new stuff from this year and trying to figure out what I actually like. December comes sooner than you think.
Was thinking about that last thought today myself.
1001 Albums, etc.
Blur – Modern Life is Rubbish: I don’t think that there’s a single Blur album I love start-to-finish but I do generally enjoy their vibe and there’s a ton of charm to this early album where they were just starting to find their sound. Some of the later albums have higher highs for me, but I definitely like this one a lot.
Sheryl Crow – Tuesday Night Music Club: disappointingly dull, I have some nostalgic affection for a few of her singles but outside of “All I Wanna Do” this album fell pretty flat for me.
The Fall – The Infotainment Scan: a band I generally prefer in short doses but this might be the most I’ve enjoyed a full Fall record. The electronic edge adds a lot and their cover of “Lost in Music” is good fun.
Wu-Tang Clan – Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers): hell yeah, this is up there with the best hip-hop albums for me, I love their assortment of distinct voices and personalities and the production has an appealing grit.
Bjork – Debut: I’ve always admired Bjork more than I love her stuff, she’s already displaying a huge amount of ambition and personality on this album and her voice is as distinctive and powerful as ever. I just don’t seem to quite click with her as an artist in a way I find quite frustrating.
Orbital – Orbital II: really enjoyable melodic techno, I think the “sampled voice phasing experiment” tracks that open and close this might get on my nerves on repeat listens but otherwise I thought this was very enjoyable.
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Screen Drafts, “Werewolves”, “Gay 90s” – enjoyed the first of this year’s Scream Drafts episodes, I kinda agree with the general feeling that there isn’t a PERFECT werewolf movie even if there are a ton of very good ones. Some fun-sounding stuff on the list I haven’t seen, I felt a little bad for the guy kinda forced into picking The Howling high up, I’m also not the biggest fan of that film and I wouldn’t have minded the canon being upended a little. Circled back to the Gay 90s episode since Blank Check has been in “haven’t seen it” territory for a few weeks, an enjoyable trio of GMs, a great #1 and I did not know what Fried Green Tomatoes was actually about! I mostly know it as a Simpsons punchline.
I’m of the minority opinion that Blur has stronger songs on average – the track record does speak for itself – but the “middle class British irony” energy is more tiresome to me than Oasis’ laddish sincerity. We get it, Damon, you are able to sneer. (The actual Blur vs. Oasis answer is really Pulp or Suede.) Gotta check out this Fall album!
Yeah, Blur lose me quickly in that mode. On their earlier albums I tend to love the big swoony ballads like To The End, This is a Low, The Universal. I’d take them over Oasis most days of the week but Pulp leave them all in the dust (I’ve just never really developed any strong feelings either way about Suede, to be honest).
Same with this preference – The Universal and Tender are perfect songs.
I love big, gloopy Blur ballads, but I’m going to speak up for the band’s faster-paced but equally jaded songs.
There’s something so quintessentially ’90s about the End of History ennui “Coffee and TV” and “End of a Century,” plus the former has an all-time great music video.
Also, the Beatles + the Cars + heroin triad that is “Beetlebum” is a great.
It’s weird that Blur were part of the big rivalry at the heart of the popular conception of Britpop. They’re much more the Kinks than the Beatles or Stones. To me someone like the Stone Roses sound like more of a foil/competitor to Oasis, but I guess that would’ve required consistent musical output.
Killer singles, two members who could lead a great songs, and a few very good but not all-the-way-great LPS.
Impossible to argue against Pulp being responsible for that scenes best albums though.
Yeah, I dunno why The Kinks’ sense of jaded irony bothers me less than Blur; maybe it’s that Davies doesn’t sound smug or self-satisfied as much as curious with character studies like “David Watts” or “A Well-Respected Man.” Albarn is objectively a better musician than anyone in Oasis – and I love his Ravenous score with Michael Nyman, an all-timer horror film entry – but spiritually I am more in line with Oasis’ sincerity.
Good call on End of a Century, that’s a great song.
Music: Rattle’s Encircle which made for a very good soundtrack while reading this big book about the occult that I got in Chicago. I believe someone here has a connection? The Womack Sisters, the grandchildren of Sam Cooke and Bobby Womack, put out a pretty terrific throwback R&B/soul album and I’d heartily recommend it.
I also listened to La Cage Aux Follies, which I enjoyed and even found quite touching if exhaustive. “I Am What I Am” is a beautiful ballad of self-acceptance and George Hearn does a great job of building up the song’s emotions.
Podcast-wise, Broadway Bound has been a ton of fun, the equivalent of your gay theater friend telling you a ton of good historical tea. I’ve been moving away from “two guys joking about stuff that sucks” as a genre but Disaster Piece’s episodes about Cop Rock are downright hypnotic; you can’t believe some of the musical numbers and plotlines really happened.
Ha yes, Rattle is my girlfriend’s band! They just got back from a two-week tour of Europe supporting Holy Fuck. She is so much cooler than me.