IRC’s third new 2020 indie songs playlist selection series features artists and bands from across the eastern U.S. and the midwest.
In This Installment:
“Blud Muun” – Paul Traficanti (Brooklyn, New York)
“Call Me” – Matt Alter (Charlotte, North Carolina)
“Got No Luck” – The Black Mariah Theater (Kansas City, Kansas)
“Shine For Me” – Castle Finn (Champaign, Illinois)
The haunting anti-folk single, “Blud Muun,” (“Blood Moon”) from Brooklyn musician Paul Traficanti, is a heartfelt homage to a life-long friend.
Strangely, this melancholy track weaves elements of a ballad, plus folk, rock, and lo-fi into an unconventional, comforting, albeit gloomy, recording.
Traficanti’s deep, gravelly vocals – which also have a touch of 70s AM singer/songwriter – are remarkably emotive without being over-the-top.
The echoing and reverb effects add a sense of distance, detachment, and suffering – thereby symbolizing Traficanti’s crushing pain. It creates an image of the artist stuck down in a dark well of mourning and loneliness.
Near the end of “Blud Munn,” the guitar and vocals kick into another gear as he expresses the confusing mixed emotions of angst and sadness for his, and others, sudden loss.
It’s not easy to describe how and why this song works because it is so different. It conjures up many musical adjectives and genres/sub-genres, and while it is unperfected, it is a beautiful anti-ballad.
Traficanti describes it as a “healing and introspection” piece that combines “the calm of a quiet valley breeze with the constant current that powers everyday life in the city.”
While the recording itself is brand new, the lyrics were first written five years ago after his friend suddenly and unexpectedly passed away.
“I was in shock after he died,” Traficanti told IRC. “It was the first time in my life where I had experienced grief and loss with no warning.”
For weeks, Traficanti could not pick up his guitar or do much of anything else. But, thankfully, time has a way of eventually softening the hard blows life serves up.
“A few weeks after he passed, I was finally able to pick up the guitar again,” he says. “It all started with the guitar part that has a kind of falling chord progression. I played that chord progression over and over because it made me feel better.”
According to Traficanti, the evening that his friend died, a rare blood moon adorn the canvas of the night sky. “If the skies didn’t say what the world had in play/the blood moon awaits on the night of the 8th.”
The vocal and guitar parts were recorded in Traficanti’s bedroom using a DAW with a cheap condenser mic. The DIY appeal is hard to miss, but not hard to love.
“I think that [the cheap mic] adds sincerity and rawness to the track and I’m glad it was done that way,” he adds. The demo-like aspect of the single is perfectly fitting.
The song was not meant to be all gloom, and in listening to it, that becomes oddly apparent. Traficanti says that he enjoys making music that leaves listeners “smiling through their tears.”
After teaming up with musician/producer friend Benjamin McCarthy, Traficanti was finally able to achieve the sound and affect that he wanted to convey.
Expanding on the themes and subjects of his idyllic, desolate songs, Traficanti writes: “[my songs] are personal anecdotes, inner demons, and conversations left unsaid” that are wrapped into “warm melancholic indie rock tunes.”
So far, he has just two singles: “Blud Muun” and “Letter for a Friend (I Never Sent).” The latter, and debut, track is a plea for reconciliation. Yet the sender is plagued with doubt and ultimately decides that the letter is best left unsent.
https://www.instagram.com/paultraf/
Castle Finn – “Shine For Me”
On these dreary days of February, as winter starts to wind down, indie rock band Castle Finn turns heads from the gloom to the light with the debut single titled, “Shine for Me.”
Illinois multi-instrumentalist (vocals, bass, guitar, keys, drums) and songwriter Patrick Murphy does it all on his new single complete with a twangy, ringing guitar, electro-pop keys, and an uplifting chorus.
“The song visualizes the return of joy after a spell of melancholia while on a day trip with friends,” Murphy says. “It’s about those special moments and people that make you smile and change your worldview.
The song adeptly conveys a place and time when and where sunny, oceanside and sand-filled memories of youthful happy times with friends are cherished, and desired once again, even though that is not possible.
Murphy played, recorded and mixed guitars, drums, keys, bass and vocals himself in his Champaign home. He derives inspiration from the natural landscapes and contours of his family’s farm, which just so happens to be the name of the band.
Castle Finn tours with bands like Woven Hollow and Nate Stauba across Colorado, Illinois, and Iowa. Murphy’s musical influences include Andrew Bird, James Jamerson, Tame Impala, My Morning Jacket, and Damien Jurado.
https://www.facebook.com/CastleFinn/
Matt Alter – “Call Me”
The introspective alt rock single, “Call Me,” from North Carolina musician and surgeon Matt Alter has an almost impossible-to-ignore vibe. The track is Alter’s first single from his commendable debut album, The Bitter Pill.
The song is a reference to a time when people used to call one another on the phone. Alter remarks that since his divorce a year ago, getting back into the dating game has been difficult and revealing.
“I have gone through a divorce,” he says. “It has been a while since I was back in the dating pool. Boy, has it changed.”
“Communication is mostly via text and messaging,” he adds. “It feels like no one picks up the phone to talk anymore. That was the inspiration for this song.”
Alter purchased his first guitar after high school, became self-taught after a few years and joined a band. But, as it goes for so many DIY musicians, life’s other priorities got in the way and the guitar was set aside. He went for his doctorate and got married.
“But the desire to play never left,” he says. “After I was set in my career, I found myself being drawn back to the guitar.”
Alter, who has also owned music schools in the past, said he has had opportunities to open for, and join, nationally touring bands. His biggest musical influences include Rush, Zep, Foo Fighters, and The Who. He also plays the bass and keys on the album.
https://www.facebook.com/MattAlterMusic/
The Black Mariah Theater – “Got No Luck”
With angst-fueled verve typical of young musicians with things to say, twin sisters, Analiese (vocals, drums) and Sophia (guitar) Motta, sping out a particularly enthusiastic brand of rock.
The Kansas City duo, known as The Black Mariah Theater, is a genre-bending force that mixes musical styles almost effortlessly.
Take their new single, “Got No Luck,” from the just-dropped L.P., Patron Saint. The sultry, moody and charged track is one of the standout songs on the album.
Their sparkly witch-rock sound, as it’s been described, is a brew of genre-bending “funky drum beats, jazzy guitar tones, and tell-it-like-it-is lyrics. Perfect for anyone who’s had a bad day, a lonely night or a broken heart,” as the girls put it.
“The mix of garage punk and jazz is something people would think might not work, but those were the styles of music we enjoyed playing and listening to,” Sophie says. “The incorporation of jazz into our music came from the idea that good music doesn’t fall into one genre.”
The sisters’ musical journey dates back to childhood when they were given an electric guitar and drum kit. Fueled by a love for The Blues Brothers, Green Day and The White Stripes, they had their own band by the time they were in middle school.
The duo is headed out for a two-week tour in March 2020 with shows in Denver, Austin, New Orleans, and Nashville.
https://www.instagram.com/theblackmariahtheater/
