Skip to main content

Will Stratton :: What the Night Said


While Jamie is off gallivanting and carousing on a random island (located off the coast of a country that, itself is an island) Dakin blogs on tirelessly from another island (which is, by Dakin’s estimation, much more island like than Jamie’s).

Will Stratton
What the Night Said


Amazing, really, that, within the past six months, Duck & Cover has been cued in to the talents of two amazingly gifted nineteen year old singer songwriters. (Makes us feel a little, well, not dirty – not like that NAMBLAesque Harry Potter with the horse -- and not quite icky, but definitely old.) The first, being, of course, Zac Condon of Beirut (and, apologies for the fact that the promised review of Lon Gisland e.p. never materialized; we’ll get to it eventually), and now the first bit of 2007 brings us Will Stratton and his remarkable debut What the Night Said.

WtNS is a beautiful record that has, thus far, garnered comparisons to Sufjan Stevens and Iron & Wine; comparisons, which, while I can see the similarity, seem to sell Stratton a little short. As human beings, we like to label and compare so that we have a frame of reference, but let’s just let Will Stratton be Will Stratton. (Although, “Night Will Come” seems to lean towards some Harmacy era Sebadoh, but that may just be me.)

This record is remarkably cozy and familiar, and appropriate for any use that you may apply to it. For instance, it has passed the “play it loud while cooking dinner” test, as well as the “play it softly as background” test and the all important “Listen, really listen on Headphones” test. Not only has each test been passed with flying colors, but each listen has resulted in at least two consecutive trips through the record. For those that may not be picking up on the subtext, that means that this record is very good.

Opener “Katydid” immediately catches you and pulls you into the record, and you float on through a sea of lost loves and broken relationships, the music wrapping itself around you like a favorite jacket (or perhaps a well loved quilt). “Sonnet” picks up the tempo a bit, complete with a bouncy arrangement and hand claps. (We do love hand claps around here.) The record settles back down with “Oh Quiet Night”, and continues quietly on with beautiful lyrics about headlights sweeping bedroom walls, crippled skies, and empty kisses. In short, the songs are astonishingly beautiful, accomplished, and lyrical, and almost guaranteed to make their way on to the “Best of 2007” list of anyone who hears this record.


From what I can tell, there are not that many venues through which one may purchase WtNS, aside from iTunes, but when Jamie gets back from afore mentioned gallivanting and cavorting, we’ll see to it that we have a purchase link loaded, as well as a song preview so that you can hear for yourself just how hopelessly amazing and breathlessly beautiful and just stunning this record is. (Also, if you’re in the know, you may say “hey, why no mention of Sufjan’s oboe playing on this record? Don’t you know??” Well, yes, we do, but let’s let Will have his moment in the spotlight, shall we?)


Will Stratton
What the Night Said
Stunning Models on Display


BUY IT TODAY

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Celebrate Halloween with Peter Squires's New Video, "Witch"

I don't usually do festive or holiday posts. In fact, the closest I get is writing some kind of seasonal bent against a track, and only then when I've had too much coffee and can't find any relation to a song other than what the weather is doing. I just think holiday-themed posts / articles are lazy. But Halloween is different. Why? Because Halloween, to paraphrase Wesley Willis, whips a horse's ass. So when Ryan from The Musebox put me on to Peter Squires a few days ago, I knew it was going into the annals of Duck & Cover (that's right, I said "annals" on the Internets). From the Press Release: Peter’s direct and honest vocal delivery is reminiscent of contemporaries such as Kimya Dawson and Luke Temple. The album is all heart, laid bare for our aural pleasure. Woe Is Me was recorded in Peter Squires’ Brooklyn bedroom and is available on his website for fans to download at no charge. The first video from the album is “Witch” and it was just rele...

Lucero Video for "Darken My Door"

Darken My Door from Lucero on Vimeo . It's good to see that a serious band doesn't have to take itself seriously. Even better when a band's fans don't take them too seriously. "Darken My Door" off of Lucero's latest album, 1372 Overton Park , is a song about losing stuff--girlfriend, money, dignity. In fact, a lot of Lucero's songs are like that, but I'm not getting into that now. I'm talking about the video, which has so much to love. Obviously, I love the fact director Alex Mecum has used a puppet as the protagonist. But it's what the puppet does that makes this video so much fun. Puppet eating chili dogs, puppet drinking whiskey, puppet giving blow jobs . . . Hell, there's even puppet vomit! It's ridiculous, yes, but also tragic. By the end of the video, if you don't feel a little sorry for the scruffy faced whore puppet, then you have no soul. Here's a little more about the videos for Lucero's new album: To promot...

Flight of the Conchords Are Tha Muthaflippin'

If you go to the official Flight of the Conchords website , you will see that it was about the time they started work on their HBO special that they stopped updating. However, you will also read that they don’t mind too much. In fact, they are very quick to point to other fan sites that are doing a much better job. This self deprecating humour is part of what makes the duo so endearing. For those who have not yet seen the programme, Bret McKenzie ( formerly of Wellington dub band The Black Seeds) plays the naïve Bret, who is a vertible emotional rollercoaster when compared to the dour-faced Jermaine (Jermaine Clement. See him in Eagle vs. Shark ). Together they look for gigs and . . . well that’s pretty much it: they look for gigs. But it’s enough. Just because the show’s premise isn’t robust, doesn’t mean the show falls flat. Hell, remember Seinfeld? That was a show supposedly about ‘nothing,’ and look how well it did. FOTC is at least about one thing, so it’s got that much more ...