Distant Correspondent
I'm usually highlighting recent-ish records for these Bandcamp Monday situations, but let's take things back a little bit to celebrate a woefully under-celebrated record — the lone long-player from Distant Correspondent, released 10 years ago this week. There's no expanded reissue of the album, but maybe there should be! Distant Correspondent is a classic slice of dream pop featuring the dulcet tones of Drag City superstar Edith Frost, haunting guitars worthy of The Cure's Faith and David Obuchowski's extraordinary skills as a songwriter and arranger.
The cherry on top is Emily Gray (formerly of Meanwhile Back In Communist Russia), who adds her poetic/melancholic reveries to the mix — I hesitate to call it "spoken word;" there's an uncanny musicality to her vocals here, adding a drama and tension that you won't find many other places. And we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the one-man rhythm section of Michael Lengel, whose sense of dynamics ensures that the songs have deep and shifting textures. Give this one a spin, you won't regret it ...
(And full disclosure — after Distant Correspondent was recorded, I actually joined Distant Correspondent for a little while there, touring the country! Yes, dear reader, I liked this record that much.)
