Carissa's Wierd, one of the seminal indie rock outfits of Seattle through the 90s and early 'oughts, have released a b-side track from a batch of new recordings they have reportedly been working on. The band, which formed in 1995, broke up in 2003, with many of its members being disseminated into current chamber-pop and folky groups- including Band of Horses and Grand Archives. Mat Brooke, lead singer of both Carissa's Wierd and Grand Archives, also went on to found the Redwood bar, which is very noteworthy to me because while living in Capitol Hill I drank many beers and tossed many peanut shells onto their floor (Thank you, Mat).
The band is playing a show August 24 at Neumos, and the rumors about a tour, may or may not be true. Possibly, I would just like to start a rumor that they're touring, so as to incite a riotous demand for them to tour.
We've always been big fans of Luke Temple, and it's good to see that, together with the Here We Go Magic crew, the man is keeping at it with increasingly beautiful records and videos. The band's new album "A Different Ship" (stream it here) will be out on May 8, and betrays at least a partial return to Luke Temple's more intimate and melodic sound from his solo repertoire - in this regard, lend a ear to "Hard to Be Close," "Alone but Moving" and "Over the Ocean". This is welcome news for fans like us who always thought that in most HWGM material Luke's noteworthy songwriting skills seemed a little sacrificed on the altar of textural experimentation. This doesn't mean that the band's signature hypnotic, impressionistic sound is lost - it's just that these two elements work together better than they did in past records, and this is what makes this album one of the NYC highlights of the year so far. Indeed, this collection also features songs more in line with the band's past releases ("Make Up your Mind", "I Believe in Action"), which follow on the steps of brainy-pop icons like Brian Eno and The Feelies, but there's definitely a balance here, also betrayed by the almost perfect alternation of melodic songs and less traditional ones.The just released video of "How Do I Know," telling the story of a rejected dancing robot that ends up revitalizing an older man's appreciation for life, seems to reflect on this brain/heart, mechanic/organic dichotomies and somehow bring them to unity. - PDG
