ROUTES & BRANCHES
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
February 1, 2025
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT THiS WEEK?!!
Julien Baker & TORRES, "Sylvia" Send a Prayer My Way (Matador, Apr 18)
Less outright country than its predecessor, "Sylvia" arrives with the official announcement of the duo's full-length project. The song's charm multiplies with the news that it's actually written about a foster dog that Torres adopted: Haunted by all the goodnights that I've missed / Every time your cheek goes unkissed. Which, for us, briefly raises the question if dogs actually have cheeks.
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Fust, "Bleached" Big Ugly (Dear Life, Mar 7)
The second single from Fust's third LP trades in the band's alluring slacker alt.country. With a grainy, aggressively unsexy video featuring the band playing in a claustrophobic room (perhaps we're projecting), our concerns about Fust exploding in popularity are momentarily eased. Yet the song's boring angels are only increasing our anticipation for the full project.
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Lily Seabird, "Trash Mountain (1pm)" Trash Mountain (Lame-O, Apr 4)
We're a sucker for this kind of ramshackle DIY folk, with the Vermont songwriter's broken, Victoria Williams delivery. When she's not frolicking with her big red helium balloon, Seabird has been playing bass with Greg Freeman and others. She has noted: Sure the world is really messed up, but that doesn't mean we can't make something beautiful out of the garbage.
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Lydia Loveless, "What'll I Do" (Jan 31)
There's been no formal announcement of a new full-length project, but Loveless is no stranger to one-off covers. We don't reach back to stuff from 1923 too often, nevertheless we'll make an exception for this sweet piano and voice Irving Berlin cut, created alongside John Calvin Abney. Pairs well with a drizzly night and a cocktail.
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Jack Van Cleaf w/Zach Bryan, "Rattlesnake" JVC (Dualtone, May 9)
Van Cleaf has recorded "Rattlesnake" at least a couple times during his short career, but recognized a great opportunity when Zach Bryan began covering the track, then asked if the writer wanted to record it as a duet. The slow-growing song adds horns and pedal steel as the singers reflect on youthful indiscretion and self-doubt: My skull is just a big white house / To some punk-ass kids from out of town / They stay up late and talk real loud / And sometimes I feel like kicking them out.
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