"David / Your dad is a demon / In deep space, he is breathing / While you’re down here in hell / Well, Chicago to be precise...
Listening, trying to understand (while thoroughly enjoying) the smiling, often times perplexing "David" by Empty Country, the ostensibly solo driven band project of artist, singer-songwriter Joseph D' Agostino (the founder of the iconic Cymbals Eat Guitar) and I eagerly take small bites trying to digest all the beautifully artful emotional drama or trauma or both. While I might have to have Joseph on a pretend therapist's couch as I pretend to be a therapist to sort of understand the import behind this song, there is so much lyrical content to chew on and the way Joseph sets it to music, wired to tantalizing vocal melodies is a wonderful and sometimes wonderfully weird thing to behold. Like an amalgam of Todd Rundgren, Pere Ubu, Elton John (in order of appearance) the musical shapes and instrumental choices are like that special box of Sees candy with Mom alive again.
"An electromagnetic device is pulsing
It shakes your smiling skull
Kicking Effexor and Wellbutrin
Could somebody get you heroin?
Check the contacts
Who the fuck is Geoff?
In spite of everything you’ve said and done
You’re always gonna be the special son"
Kicking Effexor and Wellbutrin
Could somebody get you heroin?
Check the contacts
Who the fuck is Geoff?
In spite of everything you’ve said and done
You’re always gonna be the special son"
I feel the need to share the LINER NOTES:
[Joseph D’Agostino was twenty when he self-released his first record, Why There Are Mountains, in 2009. His band, Cymbals Eat Guitars, found itself in high demand overnight, drawing comparisons to Modest Mouse, Pavement, and Bruce Springsteen, some of D’Agostino’s musical heroes. Cymbals Eat Guitars went on to release three more critically acclaimed albums over the next seven years and toured the world several times over. More than a decade later, D’Agostino is releasing his fifth full-length album, and his first outside Cymbals Eat Guitars, as Empty Country. For D’Agostino, the new beginning prompted a return to a familiar style of creative labor: he wrote, arranged, and produced the album himself (with co-production and engineering by Kyle Gilbride of Swearin’), spending over two years writing layered instrumental parts and vocal arrangements for his family and close friends to perform. The album features his wife and sister-in-law on backup vocals; a West Philadelphia neighbor, Zena Kay, on pedal steel; and a rhythm section comprised of twins Anne Dole, the drummer for Cymbals Eat Guitars, and her brother Pat on bass guitar. The album’s first single, “Ultrasound,” features Charles Bissell of the Wrens (D’Agostino’s mentor and former guitar teacher) on backing vocals.]
"David" elevated by a magnetic Official Video is great in it's unique vision. I could never create something like this, I don't have the balls.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://soundcloud.com/emptycountry-music/david
https://www.instagram.com/emptycountry/?hl=en
https://emptycountry.bandcamp.com/
Joseph D’Agostino was twenty when he self-released his first record, Why There Are Mountains, in 2009. His band, Cymbals Eat Guitars, found itself in high demand overnight, drawing comparisons to Modest Mouse, Pavement, and Bruce Springsteen, some of D’Agostino’s musical heroes. Cymbals Eat Guitars went on to release three more critically acclaimed albums over the next seven years and toured the world several times over. More than a decade later, D’Agostino is releasing his fifth full-length album, and his first outside Cymbals Eat Guitars, as Empty Country. For D’Agostino, the new beginning prompted a return to a familiar style of creative labor: he wrote, arranged, and produced the album himself (with co-production and engineering by Kyle Gilbride of Swearin’), spending over two years writing layered instrumental parts and vocal arrangements for his family and close friends to perform. The album features his wife and sister-in-law on backup vocals; a West Philadelphia neighbor, Zena Kay, on pedal steel; and a rhythm section comprised of twins Anne Dole, the drummer for Cymbals Eat Guitars, and her brother Pat on bass guitar. The album’s first single, “Ultrasound,” features Charles Bissell of the Wrens (D’Agostino’s mentor and former guitar teacher) on backing vocals.
Joseph D’Agostino was twenty when he self-released his first record, Why There Are Mountains, in 2009. His band, Cymbals Eat Guitars, found itself in high demand overnight, drawing comparisons to Modest Mouse, Pavement, and Bruce Springsteen, some of D’Agostino’s musical heroes. Cymbals Eat Guitars went on to release three more critically acclaimed albums over the next seven years and toured the world several times over. More than a decade later, D’Agostino is releasing his fifth full-length album, and his first outside Cymbals Eat Guitars, as Empty Country. For D’Agostino, the new beginning prompted a return to a familiar style of creative labor: he wrote, arranged, and produced the album himself (with co-production and engineering by Kyle Gilbride of Swearin’), spending over two years writing layered instrumental parts and vocal arrangements for his family and close friends to perform. The album features his wife and sister-in-law on backup vocals; a West Philadelphia neighbor, Zena Kay, on pedal steel; and a rhythm section comprised of twins Anne Dole, the drummer for Cymbals Eat Guitars, and her brother Pat on bass guitar. The album’s first single, “Ultrasound,” features Charles Bissell of the Wrens (D’Agostino’s mentor and former guitar teacher) on backing vocals.
No comments:
Post a Comment