"My God, whom I love / I give to You all that I have / But all I have is this / A mind, a potsherd / I've made a mess / Expect no less, no more..."
The vibrant, artfully raucous, emotional jam blend of "A Mind, A Potsherd", by South Indiana alt indie outfit Public Transit, is a lot of things all at once and crushes together so many musical genres that one broad description is hard to come up with especially in today's current landscape. So maybe it would be easier for me to go back. Adjacent to 80's new wave blender bands like Orange Juice or Haircut 100 (predecessors of chamber pop / twee / emo) or the Brazilian samba and jazz collisions of Banda Isca de Policia or Blue Rondo à la Turk's swing / samba / raggae / "Klactoveesedstein" (1982), or more current feels like Cornelius's recent collab with Arto Lindsay or the always amazing Los Campesinos! ( circa: The Coin-Op Guillotine). You might be getting a sense that I am having some difficulty finding comparisons but suffice it to say all these examples as singular pieces of music would feel perfectly, attitudinally, spritually right up against "A Mind, A Potsherd".
Maybe, the band's description of this track adds light:
"An experimental alt pop / alternative rock track that blends bossa nova rhythms with fiddles, funk bass, and Smiths-flavored guitar. Self-deprecating, yet earnestly spiritual. Danceable existentialism"
"A Mind, A Potsherd" is the third single off Public Transit’s upcoming a "The Sound of Bells LP".
Suffice it to say, the samba flavors get your hips moving and the sophisti pop flavors and Jason Stark's proggy bass teardowns against Jubilee Chen's beautifully nimble violin expressions and more orchestrations like songwriter Noah Dirig's guitar licks dazzle in such dense ways that sometimes it is sort of difficult to absorb Dirig's confessional vocal poetry. No worries, just listen a few times because the songwriting, the musical calculations, free expressions are many and special here.
Suffice it to say, the samba flavors get your hips moving and the sophisti pop flavors and Jason Stark's proggy bass teardowns against Jubilee Chen's beautifully nimble violin expressions and more orchestrations like songwriter Noah Dirig's guitar licks dazzle in such dense ways that sometimes it is sort of difficult to absorb Dirig's confessional vocal poetry. No worries, just listen a few times because the songwriting, the musical calculations, free expressions are many and special here.
LINER NOTES (excerpted / braketed):
[Recorded and produced entirely in Dirig’s modest home studio with minimal equipment, Potsherd forgoes any semblance of radio-friendly production polish. It’s as if the song — with its peculiar composition, lyrics, and production — is fully committed in all its aspects to present something truly alternative.]
[The track gets stranger still with lyrics that are confessional, self-deprecating, yet earnestly spiritual. Potsherd is ultimately a prayer. The narrator reckons with his own self-hatred and reaches outside himself to find acceptance, something he realizes cannot be found within. The narrator’s existentialism is delightfully (and mercifully) juxtaposed with the instrumental’s lighthearted and genre-confused danceability.]
-Robb Donker Curtius
LYRICS
My God, whom I love
I give to You all that I have
But all I have is this:
A mind, a potsherd
I've made a mess
Expect no less, no more
Could You accept this heart, my Lord?
And again
I'm reminded of the things You said
Oh carry me my Savior, You are my hope
My God, I commend
A body, a spirit
Into Your hands
But both my hands
Are fists
They beat to bleed
Your blood anew
Expected death, no more
The hands that killed Thee
Wear red purity
And again
I'm reminded of the things that You said
DETAILS
I give to You all that I have
But all I have is this:
A mind, a potsherd
I've made a mess
Expect no less, no more
Could You accept this heart, my Lord?
And again
I'm reminded of the things You said
Oh carry me my Savior, You are my hope
My God, I commend
A body, a spirit
Into Your hands
But both my hands
Are fists
They beat to bleed
Your blood anew
Expected death, no more
The hands that killed Thee
Wear red purity
And again
I'm reminded of the things that You said
DETAILS
released September 4, 2026
Violin by Jubilee Chen
Bass by Jason Stark
Other instrumentals by Noah Dirig
Vocals by Aimee Dirig and Noah Dirig
Production by Noah Dirig
Mixing by Joel Piedt
Mastering by Jeremy Kahng
The Chicken Wheel will take you to the AP Go Fund Me- and any amount is so appreciated!
Public Transit’s upcoming LP, The Sound of Bells, is a folk exploration employing the tools of alternative music (historically the musical language of disenchanted Gen Xers and millennials) to illustrate the struggle to break out of disillusionment and instead experience an enchanted, almost child-like, life. Its second single, Our Dearest Michael, releases on July 24th. Public Transit is an indie folk collective whose core contributors include songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Noah Dirig, vocalist Aimee Dirig (both based out of Wilmore, Kentucky), and violinist Jubilee Chen of Cincinnati, Ohio. Public Transit emerged in 2022 as a solo project of Noah Dirig. With a few cheap microphones, a budget-model guitar, and a laptop, Dirig began to craft ornate folk tunes in a tiny one-bedroom in Columbus, Ohio. Borrowing some old violin recordings from his friend, Jubilee Chen, he released his first single, Weights Too Heavy, in October 2022. 2023 saw the release of Public Transit's first EP, Still in Regal Glory. A minimalistic collection of Advent songs, this release was the first to prominently feature Dirig's wife, Aimee, as a full-fledged member of the group. 2025's Hover, a collaboration with Chen, was an artistic leap forward for the group, and later that year, the group released the Willow Tree EP, the collective's most confident effort to date.
Violin by Jubilee Chen
Bass by Jason Stark
Other instrumentals by Noah Dirig
Vocals by Aimee Dirig and Noah Dirig
Production by Noah Dirig
Mixing by Joel Piedt
Mastering by Jeremy Kahng
The Chicken Wheel will take you to the AP Go Fund Me- and any amount is so appreciated!
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
Public Transit is a South Bend, Indiana-based alternative folk / indie rock group made up of songwriter and guitarist Noah Dirig, his wife, vocalist Aimee Dirig, and violinist Jubilee Chen. “We write songs about cityscapes, bicycles, and God.”
Public Transit’s upcoming LP, The Sound of Bells, is a folk exploration employing the tools of alternative music (historically the musical language of disenchanted Gen Xers and millennials) to illustrate the struggle to break out of disillusionment and instead experience an enchanted, almost child-like, life. Its second single, Our Dearest Michael, releases on July 24th. Public Transit is an indie folk collective whose core contributors include songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Noah Dirig, vocalist Aimee Dirig (both based out of Wilmore, Kentucky), and violinist Jubilee Chen of Cincinnati, Ohio. Public Transit emerged in 2022 as a solo project of Noah Dirig. With a few cheap microphones, a budget-model guitar, and a laptop, Dirig began to craft ornate folk tunes in a tiny one-bedroom in Columbus, Ohio. Borrowing some old violin recordings from his friend, Jubilee Chen, he released his first single, Weights Too Heavy, in October 2022. 2023 saw the release of Public Transit's first EP, Still in Regal Glory. A minimalistic collection of Advent songs, this release was the first to prominently feature Dirig's wife, Aimee, as a full-fledged member of the group. 2025's Hover, a collaboration with Chen, was an artistic leap forward for the group, and later that year, the group released the Willow Tree EP, the collective's most confident effort to date.
Public Transit, Indiana, sophisti pop, alternative, chamber pop, samba beats, folk, indie rock, indie folk, songwriter Noah Dirig, bassist Jason Stark, violinist Jubilee Chen, "A Mind, A Potsherd", album "The Sound of Bells",
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