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william fitzsimmons | pittsburgh

 
William Fitzsimmons is dependable, like the constant sun and the enduring moon. His is a sound uncontrived and without artifice or unnecessary embellishments. On his latest work, the album Pittsburgh leaves my soul ajar letting the beauty of its continual gifts to drift in.

One would think that with such refined and eloquent talent Mr. Fitzsimmons would be one of the most popular acts performing today. But there is something to be said about having him all to ourselves. There is a kind of secret beauty in that too. Thank you William for another collection of beyond beautiful songs.

The latest body of work, Pittsburgh is a collection of 7-songs finished with rigid and artful integrity wielded deftly with refined constraint. Peace.
 
Artist: William Fitzsimmons
Album: Pittsburgh
iTunes
 
William Fitzsimmons album Pittsburgh Tracklisting:
 
1. I Had to Carry Her (Virginia’s Song)
2. Falling On My Sword
3. Better
4. Pittsburgh
5. Beacon
6. Matter
7. Ghosts of Penn Hills
 

 
Pittsburgh Lyrics:
 
Should you survive the fall from branches we have climbed and lost yourself in years

the ones we left behind

Should rivers run between your frozen heart and mine and words we spoke so young

were cast before our time

I’ll come for you if you want me to

Should all your sons forgive their fathers where they fell and wrap them for the cold

to rest their winters well

I’ll come for you if you want me to
I’ll come for you if you want me to, Pittsburgh
 

 
I Had To Carry Her (Virginia’s Song) Lyrics:
 
I saw her lying there on the table buried in flowers cross that I made for her
Kneeling beside you next to my mother weeping like willows
I had to carry her

I’m sorry it took me two years to come home
Ive been so busy you should see how the kids have grown
I’ll tell the children how much you loved them
They’ll never know you
I had to carry her

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And then those wonderful and various mutations. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley, Desaparecidos, and Monsters of Folk, etc. Check out his LIVE KEXP performance just below:
 

 
Anyway Mr. Oberst is back (did he ever really leave our hearts?) and in fine form with a brand new sparkling album. With the Upside Down Mountain listeners are treated to Conor at his present best. After the jump check out videos for the tracks Zigzagging Towards The Light and Common Knowledge. Peace.
 

 

 
Artist: Conor Oberst
Album: Upside Down Mountain
conoroberst.com
iTunes

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Catch her new video for the track Colorado below, and while you’re at it help an aspiring artist get her next album made.

You can check out the ways and means by visiting and contributing to her Kickstarter campaign going on right here and right now. Peace.
 

 
Artist: Chastity Brown
Song: Colorado
chastitybrownmusic.com
Kickstarter
 
Fall/Winter Tour Dates 2014
 
Nov 01 Dakota Jazz Club Minneapolis, MN Tickets
Nov 08 Hooligans Mankato, MN Tickets
Nov 13 Triple Rock Social Club Minneapolis, MN Tickets
Nov 14 Severson Dells Nature Center Rockford, IL Tickets
Nov 15 Oak Center General Store Lake City, MN Tickets
Dec 05 Apollo Music Cafe New York, NY Tickets

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Methodist Girls opens with Sloppy Love. For me this doleful beauty elicits a poignant depiction of our human hearts. How emotions get jostled from lover to lover. Eventually we grow jaded, lovelorn and even cynical. But we plod on hoping and searching for love, and at times we find it no matter how fleeting or lopsided.

The pluck and spring of Paulding Light arises and dances shyly … You were looking for something I didn’t have… and I was looking for something you didn’t have.

Temporary bleeds into the white cloth of our mortality reminding us to discard our clothing unremember prayers and skinny dip into the unexpected. Another round of Two Hearted Ale, right after I finish a shot of Jameson with the friends I bring in the weekend with. The song Smoke is unspooling and curling about my ears in a bar not unlike the ghosts bumming drinks and laughter in a favorite haunt near you.
 

 
And so Nathan sings on, his is a voice that isn’t so much unleashed as it is poured straight from an oaken cast centuries old. A voice in possession of a timbre blue as the depths of Lake Huron, glint of lighthouse shine and truthful as cold bitten winters. Most Birthdays unravels it’s ribbons and wrapping paper only to discover the offering is only as appreciated as the heart and hands which hold.

So, after the party is over, the smell of nicotine is a stale cologne upon the soft skin of a drunken lover. We lay beside them upon sweat stained sheets. And as they mumble something indecipherable yet endearing we trace the rusty watermarks on ceiling constellations with our eyes. The track 1993 isn’t so much a song as it is a sign post, a mile marker biding us to look back smile through the tears.

Family Photo

Will you dance with me in this family photo? Ring your arms in mine
and hold my head up high. Oh the music is so sweet and this family
photo is fading clean. But the memories have released bleeding tears
for all to see. My heart is open wide, could be the flash of time in my eyes.
Yes, things will never be the same and that’s who we’ll blame when the dusts
forgets our names.

One of things I love about Nathan is his ability to coin lyrics like Michigan miners once hauled copper out of the Upper Peninsula. In a time capsule measuring 2:07 across I find my hands tied and I am blindfolded by simple and precious beauty.

More than anyway life is about the furtherance of love. Live given and love taken. We all got the sickness and if we stop lying to ourselves we’ll cozy up the most immutable law of them all, love can heal all wounds.

Telephones is playing as the light is being sifted from the our Michigan sky the twin gods of time and miracle. The horizon is going all pale pink and watercolored orange. The clouds are buoyant and suffused with gun metal grays and edged with pure lit light. I pass wood shaded greenery and I realize July is the pinnacle of summer and it is all downhill from here on out. But right now, I got music to settle into, and right now I am alright with all of that.

Methodist Girls closes with the bonus track Brightly and like the rest of the gorgeous every person’s album we’re reminded to take the good and only the good. Everything else is a distraction and a unwanted burden. Yes, the good, the bad and the ugly of life happens to us all but..

I didn’t catch that sunset yesterday
I couldn’t find the time but it found me today
It kept reminding me of when you walked away
You were so beautiful but then you left just like a passing day

So now I’m left with all the stars for company
6,000,000 broken little hearts they comfort me
We’ll wait around just for another chance to see
The sun arise again to give us hope we need

Shining brightly in my eyes, you woke me up to realize
That these moments come and go just like the wind, the rain, the sun, and the snow

Tomorrow’s forecasted to be a cloudy one
And though I love the clouds that don’t sound too much fun
You might’ve said goodbye and told me we were done
This game is over but my life has just begun

Shining brightly in my eyes, you woke me up to realize
That these moments come and go just like the wind, the rain, the sun, and the snow

So go on and enjoy your life, it’s going pretty fast
In all of these relationships so few of them will last
Back then these days were future, soon they’ll be part of the past
So please just make the best of them oh girl that’s all I ask

Shining brightly in my eyes, you woke me up to realize
That these moments come and go just like the wind, the rain, the sun, and the snow.

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The songs of Amsterdam-based folk four-piece Malcanisten harken back to a time of bards, balladeers and rhapsodists utilizing the olden convention of music pre-dating recorded sound. And perhaps that is the bare approach interwoven throughout their recently released Wake EP.

The opening-track, “The Oven” opens pliant and sweet, like tranquil waves foaming up upon a barren stretch of coastline. Great guitar work, and with a melody evoking a measure of equanimity which settles feather soft. The harmonies are sumptuous too, mere soughing winds warm and tranquil with an undertow of peace and sweet dream. And that’s just the first track. “Fitting Coffin” comes off as a folkish affair lining my ears with wood smoke and nostalgia and a hint of Bob Marley.

The song “Clive Wearing” is a darkly beautiful song based on the real life story about a man with no memory. In the hands of Malcanisten the song becomes weighted with human flesh riddled with feeling and tugging emotion.

On the fourth track “Swans” the song is anchored by heavier vocals, perhaps to keep the song earthbound and within earshot. Again, the continuation of sweetness and light unfurls further as Sjaak Kassies and company weave a storyboard tapestry streaked with muted pastels and heartwarming meaning.

The final track “Prophets” exudes a bit of “hedgerow orations,” perhaps even a cautionary tale espousing astute spirituality (a remembrance of the old ways, etc. if you will) over moral frivolity. All in all, these are sobering songs displaying a beautiful darkness, they are bare, and they stare into the void of one’s ear, resonating like cathedral bells. Peace.

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Amsterdam-based acoustic folk band Malcaninsten represents the very best in terms of songcraft and musical arrangement. On their debut song release “Clive Wearing,” the listener falls immediately under a spell cast by tender picked strings and the earnest homespun vocals of Sjaak Kassies. What better way to spend a lazy Sunday enwrapped in such a pristine and soulful endeavor. Peace.

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if you’re not familiar with the homespun music of nathan k. (Nathan Klages) then it is about time you take a few minutes and sit back and absorb the work-a-day music of this incredible michigan-based singer/songwriter. nathan’s soulfully wholesome album ‘dishes’ came out this summer, from which the beautiful track, “ghost” is taken. after the jump check out the dit session #24 for the previous mentioned track. how mr. k captures so much raw emotional tumult is both heart wrenching and a total explosion of happy/sad tears all at the some time. for more, check out nathan k.’s bob seger video and shiver at it’s majesty and grace. it’s as if every time nathan picks up a guitar and sets his honest mouth and accompanies the mercurial michigan clime, the airwaves rattle with the bones of truth. peace.

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does the name nadine carina ring a bell? well, you probably heard her lovely voice recently, she provided vocals for the cloud seeding project (kevin serra) on the track, “the light”. since introductions have been made, let me tell you about nadine carina’s solo experimental release ‘little bits’ ep. the newly crafted ep is a collection of experimental yet beautifully quirky odes and soundscapes perfect for late night musings or traveling through the astral plane. by the way the whole enchilada is available for free download via her bandcamp page. just so you know, my favorites our the, “paradise”, “a different face everyday” and the starlight sweetened song, “storm/calm featuring gated”. take your time with this one, it grows on you and will make a great attention to your music collection. ms. carina my hat off to you for creating such wonderful music. peace.

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