Word straight from The Mendoza Line camp (i.e. - Timothy Bracy, via email) is that the band is currently holed up in the studio working on the follow up to 2005’s excellent Full Of Light And Full Of Fire. No release date or further info is available yet, however Tim did pass on a few noteworthy news items. The band will release a long awaited EP (their website has been promising a “new EP in winter 2006/Best-Of Comp in 2007” for going on a year now) sometime this summer, most likely July. Entitled Thirty Year Low, the EP will contain all new material, including a duet between the band’s Shannon McArdle and Okkervil River’s Will Sheff. The advance tracks I’ve heard, including the duet, reaffirm the band as one of the finest Americana songwriting collectives out there.
Speaking of McArdle, her songs over the past few Mendoza Line albums have improved by leaps and bounds. She has found her voice, both literally and as a songwriter, and really come into her own on her contributions to both Full of Light and 2004’s Fortune. This was most obvious to me on “They Never Bat An Eye”, a song placed back to back with Bracy’s brilliant Metro Pictures on Fortune. Everything in the song is nailed - McArdle’s knee-shaking vocals, the calm paranoia of the lyrics, and the band’s expert piano/pedal steel interplay. In fact, McArdle’s voice has developed to the point of allowing it to be safely compared to that of Neko Case - maybe not quite as huge and expressive, but certainly more feisty and down-to-Earth. Hearing her trade verses with Sheff is a real treat, and I hope to be able to share that song with you in the near future……until then, enjoy this one:
1 comment:
hello, hello. I came across your blog looking for a taste of Frog Eyes and noticed The Mendoza Line in your Locals / Favourites list. Hallelujah! Finally... I've been a devoted fan since Lost In Revelry. I've had an email conversation with Timothy myself I seem to recall, trying to entice them over to London, but not only have I never found another soul who felt the same way, I've never found anyone who knew them! And my circle is shamelessly music geeky. Embarrassingly so. I was starting to wonder if they lived in a black hole that only I got to know about... Not that - of course - I haven't been doing some educating.
Will keep an eye on your blog for more ML news - great stuff. Agree re songwriting, Shannon, sorrow etc. I Heart The Mendoza Line. That's about as eloquent as I can be right now. A few ramblings of my own here http://www.last.fm/user/cellularfever/journal/ - ML at the music festival I've just written about, now that would have been something...
Post a Comment