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. I’ll get things started with a write-up about a newer, likely under-heard album, and invite you to share your music musings in the comments.
I’m unsure whether Silk Daisys’ release date is an example of impeccable timing or self-sabotage.
The self-titled debut LP from the Atlanta-based ‘80s acolytes arrived on December 5, the very beginning of a sizable fallow period for new music. While music never stops being made and released, typically from the beginning of December to the first week of the new year, the content firehose is more like a leaky spigot.1 That makes it the most wonderful time of the year to catch up on albums that didn’t crack your personal must-listen list, but seem like something you’d enjoy or take a flier on a scrappy-but-appealing project.2 A self-release from a duo3 that (accurately) describes itself as “For fans of The Cure, Lush, The Sundays, The Cranberries, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Primitives, The Darling Buds, and Cocteau Twins,” ticks those boxes for me.
The trade-off is that by early December, most of the spaces that catalog and critique new music have already published their lists of best debuts and buried treasures that might have brought additional ears to Silk Daisys.4 It’s no sure thing that Silk Daisys would crack such lists. Still, it’s not hard to envision an album that competently and lovingly recreates the sounds Paisley Underground, jangle pop and shoegaze across 12 tight tracks, finding some champions among music critics. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable listen that oscillates between the heavier sounds of its influences and the gossamer-light textures of Silk Daisys’ more ethereal heroes.
Karla Jean Davis’ voice is capable of carrying a song in either mode, and principal songwriter James Abercrombie, who plays guitar, bass and synthesizer and sings on a few tracks too, does a great job setting Davis up for success. Abercrombie ably and faithfully channels alternative-rock subgenres without aping any particular band or sound.
“It’s A Laugh,” with its warm, jangly guitar and nursery rhyme-simple lyrics about love gone awry, sounds like a Bangles contemporary, not a direct rip. You can hear plenty of the Smiths and the Cure in “My Love,” especially in Abercrombie’s laconic vocals, but “oohh-la-la-la” backing vocals from Davis give it some unexpected sparkle that isn’t usually associated with either band’s sound.“Honeymilk,” an extremely on-the-nose homage to the Jesus and Mary Chain, is the exception to the no-pastiches rule. It’s a clear love letter to a great band that doesn’t suffer too much from comparison to its obvious inspiration, but it’s a misstep. Other tracks on Silk Daisys, like “Everybody Wants to Be My Baby,” make affection for the Reid brothers’ work apparent without being quite so blatant, and it’s bound to remind some listeners that they’d rather be listening to Psychocandy. It does mark the first incursion of noise into the album, which is important because track-by-track fluctuation in intensity winds up being its defining feature, but Silk Daisys are louder and better elsewhere.
“Nervous Wreck” with its steadfast bass and hot honey drips of ultra-buzzy guitar certainly qualifies. While the song affects shoegaze haze, Davis voice is kept relatively prominent in the mix. It’s a smart choice that’s at odds with some of the genre’s most famous practitioners but helps to define the song’s melody. It also plays up the interesting disconnect between Davis strong, laconic singing and the anxiety disorder-touched lyrics. Album-closer “Lights” is another bombastic highlight. It’s the album’s longest song and the only one to pair Silk Daisys moody mode with their rock’n’roll impulses.
“Lights” starts slow, sleepy and atmospheric. Abercrombie provides delicate, spacy guitar notes while Davis uses the second person and well-worn tropes to set the scene. The song’s protagonist is on the street, lit by neon, far from home and in a big city that’s much different from whatever backwater burg they escaped. This allows for a genuinely witty turn of phrase to illustrate how easy it is to be anonymous while feeling special: “You’re one in a million baby/ a face in the crowd.” While the song’s subject is described as a sweet daffodil, things don’t get any sunnier. A purse full of pills, a place of origins that’s no longer a home and solitude are all that life has to offer, and Davis delivers the bad news with appropriately operatic desperation. Abercrombie adds a suitably turbulent crunch to his playing, and for a moment the song threatens to boil over into something messy and scalding, but it subtly dissipates, and the previous porous guitar web returns. There’s no anguished solo, definitive ending, howls of madness or moment of catharsis, just the repeated dispensation of the bleak advice “don’t let them see you cry.”
It’s a stone-cold bummer, but it’s also surprising and commendable. Any work of art willing to end on such a dour note deserves credit for commitment to its convictions. That feels doubly true when the work in question can be understandably compared to the Dream Syndicate.
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?
The Kids In The Hall, Season Four, Episode Fourteen
“You are the sole survivor of a thirty-five minute delay.”
“I am not an experienced cannibal.”
“Santa, you’re ruining Christmas.”
“So that’s how I was born? And then my parents sold me?”
“Sort of like the sperm going up the tubes to fertilise the egg. Enough about me.”
“The meal is a cult success, much like our show.”
“That’s right, pal, you’re dealing with Steve ‘Two Phones” Mackaby!”
“Well, it sounds like Frank’s voice…”
“Could have sworn I heard Frank’s voice.”
Bruce “Brian McCullough” McCulloch passes best as Tammy for some reason. She’s easily his best performance.
“Tasteful use of crotch shots.”
It’s definitely a poor decision to hire other actors to play one-off characters rather than one of the Kids playing everybody.
The subtitles refer to the music during the “My Art” sketch as didgeridoo music, when it’s very obviously not a didgeridoo.
“Well, I was driving around at three AM… as is my wont!”
The Lowdown, “The Sensitive Kind”
A strong ending to a strong first season. Several emotional high points here, from Francis’s reading to Donald turning the land back over to its rightful owners to the flashback where Dale met Lee, but the show doesn’t neglect comedic highlights (“COW PUSSY”) or ownage (Dale Dickey’s reappearance). Fantastic performances (Kyle MacLachlan does some subtle, heart-wrenching work in the scene where Lee lays it all out to him). And I love the staging of the final moments, with the Tulsa scene in full swing and Lee walking down the dusty road, lean and cowboy-hatted, getting back into it. Good shit.
The X-Files, “Tunguska”
It’s a shame about the overall state of the mytharc, but this is a gripping episode with solid dramatic underpinnings. Krycek is really well-used here (this is where my wife announced herself officially “Krycek-pilled”)–vicious, weak, and capable all at once–the death-defying balcony stunt alone is worth the price of admission–and now playing his obsession with Mulder in a more emotionally ambiguous way. The sci-fi horror visuals of the ending–the netted-wire masks, the gush of black oil–are top-notch. With the possible exception of the “I bet you’re wondering how I got to this Senate committee” opening, all the individual elements here work like gangbusters. We even get shirtless Skinner. All in all, like “Anasazi,” it’s a mytharc episode I can easily see myself rewatching with pleasure.
Wake Up Dead Man – hell yeah, that’s the stuff. Definitely my favourite of the three Knives Out films, a funny, exciting whodunnit with a great cast and plenty of surprises. Josh O’Connor is such a great screen presence, so good at playing complex, conflicted characters. There’s a lot of interesting cult-of-personality stuff here but I thought it did a great job broadly satirising that kind of thing rather than just being a Great Big Trump Movie. But for the most part, just a hell of a lot of fun.
Excellent! I didn’t like Challengers much but O’Connor is a damn good actor and was really convincing as the older athlete down on his luck.
I was a little mixed on it (OK movie with a great ending, IMO) but definitely enjoyed his performance. He’s so good in The Mastermind. Although my girlfriend has a crush on him so I guess I need to watch out.
The Practice, “Life Sentence” – The title has two meanings. One is the conventional use, as the single case here has a woman facing life for executing the man who raped and murdered her daughter. The accused is played by Marlee Matlin, and as the part is more or less what it would have been with an English speaker, I would guess that Kelley wanted her as a guest to round out the season, and knew that Camryn Mannheim also spoke ASL. The story is a bit manipulative, but gets energy from Richard’s almost desperate prosecution of the case as he’s at risk of being fired if he blows another one. (She’s found guilty.) The second meaning for the title is a joking reference to Bobby and Lindsey eloping, so, you know, a life sentence, get it! But somehow they elope to Fenway Park. (The rest of us go on a tour there, we can’t step on the field. A TV crew shows up, they get to use the pitcher’s mound.) Robert Prosky returns as Bobby’s priest, and cannot resist a couple of pre-2004 gags about the pain of being a Red Sox fan. And so the season ends with a wedding. Overall, the fourth season, once our killer in a nun suit was gone, rebounded very nicely, buoyed by several solid csses, most of the regular cast doing good work, and a horde of great guest stars. It can only go downhill from here.
Frasier, “Wizard of Roz” – Frasier’s mentor and therapist, played by Rene Auberjonois, starts daring Roz, and when Frasier sees the man at Roz wearing just one of her bathrobes, can’t stop thinking about it. Some really good gags – Auberjonois in a short silk robe actually cuts quite a figure – but the resolution (Frasier is bothered by this because he wonders why Roz never came on to him since his mentor is more or less his clone) doesn’t really work. There is also a fun subplot where Daphne hires a researcher to test her supposed psychic abilities and prove things to a doubting Niles, but in the end he decides it’s best to just accept her as she is without research. Fisher Stevens has fun as the scientist.
I sang “Epiphany” at an open mic Friday and think I really scared/impressed the audience! It was overall a unique experience given the amount of singers and poets, including Zoroastrian opera singers performing a traditional prayer set to music. Definitely the highlight with the fifty year old woman singing about her dad missing her field hockey recitals the low point. (My friend after: “My dad joined an aikido cult.” My other friend: “My dad was DEPORTED!”)
What did we listen to?
McCartney III, Paul McCartney
Well, I’m at the end of McCartney’s solo albums here, and like all his truly solo albums, I love it. I really do enjoy his writing voice; playful, but obsessive. Even when he’s just joking around, he sweats out all the details; even when he’s sweating out the details, he can’t help but be funny. And his music is always so lush and gorgeous.
The Beatles, Anthology 4 – To be clear, I don’t think I have ever met a bad Beatles album. But this one is pretty inessential. I like some of the instruments-only tracks, and can see the appeal of alternate takes if you are into process. But I don’t think I am revisiting this one much, any more than I revisit the other three from 1995. I still don’t care much for Free as a Bird or Real Love, and I can’t even remember the name of the one they released in this century.
The Bridges of Madison County musical – Same guy as Last Five Years and Parade, Jason Robert Brown. Sometimes stunning – there’s a reason the huge, operatic songs like “To Build A Home” and “Wondering” won this a Tony for Best Score – and sometimes it feels strangely incomplete, with a few lyric placeholders and some eye-rolling country songs that don’t rebuke the stereotype of Broadway as out of touch with a lot of American forms (“When I’m Gone” is a strong blues number in contrast). However, the best stuff here is incredibly sensual and passionate, and Kelli O’Hara is an astonishing, emotive singer: my friend was stunned that she’s American and here is singing in an operatic range with an Italian accent. The best song here gave me a hysterical emotional reaction and is the only scene one character has: “Another Life,” essentially “Finishing The Hat” as sung by Joni Mitchell. A perfect, hooky melody, lush strings, and this portrait of a marriage done in four or five minutes. You may not like musicals, but you will probably like this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE6kAk9UJ_4
Taking a break from the 1001 albums thing to dig into 2025 music that I missed. It’s been a funny year for me, some big albums from artists that I love that haven’t always hit the mark and I don’t feel like I’ve really discovered any new favourites really – partially because I’ve been stuck in the past so much, admittedly.
I’ve been digging into stuff from various lists and recommendations from friends and at the moment I’m halfway through the Pitchfork’s songs of the year list – some interesting stuff has popped up but nothing that has really blown me away. I’m a little cool on most of this year’s big consensus hits but I’m sure there must be something out there that I’ll find and love if I keep digging.
Blank Check, Honey Don’t – always interesting to hear them pick apart a movie that just doesn’t work, and for me this one absolutely did not. Mattie Lubchansky is another good guest in the “feels like they’ve been on the show for years” subcategory. I guess I also listened to the Drive Away Dolls episode this week too, mxmtoon was an interesting guest choice for that one and I kinda like it when they have somebody on who is a bit less of a movie nerd – a different angle on things.
Hornet Disaster, Weatherday
The theme of this week’s albums is “playing catch-up with past Sounding Board reviews.” This was a major hit for me: noisy, assaultive, hooky angst. It is, as Ben pointed out, a little too long, but it’s still cathartic listening if your emotional temperament happens to match mine.
Very Human Features, The Bug Club
As quirky and engaging and pleasing as I’d expected from hearing “How to Be a Confidante,” one of my favorite songs of the year.
Middle Spoon, Cheekface
Completely charming. My favorite songs may be “Art House” and “Living Lo-Fi,” but this is a very pleasing, very goofy album. (And nice Ween reference.)
While making my own year-end list, I discovered one of the songs was released in August 2024, so going back to incorporate late-breaking music that didn’t fit my schedule for the previous year certainly hasn’t been a problem for me.
I did find it quite funny that the Guardian’s songs of the year list features them lamenting about not being able to include Robyn’s new single because it came out after they did the poll. It came out in the first half of November! There’s a fix for this, and it’s not cutting off your poll while there’s still about seven weeks of the year remaining!
They’re correct to lament though, that song rules.
Yeah, it’s not like film critics cut off movies because they come in December (and yes, I know film release schedules are different, but it’s still a better system for criteria),
With movie lists it’s kinda funny in the opposite direction, I was looking through the BFI’s “best of 2025” list and seriously about half of them were 2026 releases.
The solution is clear: all songs and albums should be debuted in exclusive “listening festivals” that are only open to critics and the fabulously wealthy. In this essay, I
Year of the Month update!
This December, we’ll be taking pitches on anything from 1948, like these movies, albums, and books.
Dec. 20th: Lauren James: The Lottery
And here’s the movies, albums, books, TV, and games from 1985 for you to write about next January.
Jan. 2nd: Gillian Nelson: Return to Oz
Jan. 5th: Tristan J. Nankervis: Rambo: First Blood Part II
Jan. 9th: Gillian Nelson: Advice on Lice
Jan. 16th: Gillian Nelson: The Wuzzles/The Gummi Bears
Jan. 19th: Tristan J. Nankervis: The Breakfast Club
Jan. 23rd: Gillian Nelson: The Golden Girls