I’ve wanted to write about The Wingdale Community Singers for over a year now but it’s been difficult to get in touch with the band/label. Perhaps in part because the artists involved don’t consider themselves a real band (Guardian article by Rick Moody) and the label doesn’t have a conventional website (Plain Recordings). On top of that they seldom tour, they don’t party, and they’re all too old to be bothered with conventional indie rock stardom. The band consists of novelist Rick Moody (author of Garden State, The Ice Storm and The Diviners), ex Squirrel Bait member David Grubbs and Bar/None recording artist Hannah Marcus.
They perform original, old-time, Appalachian music or at least they try to. “Bike Shop Boy” follows all the conventional old-time music standards except of course being centered around a “bike shop boy” instead of say a coal miner, moon shiner or farm worker. But still the loneliness, hopelessness and despair remains.
—————–
Here’s more from Plain Recordings, this time a debut record by Amy Duncan called Pilgrimage. Amy Duncan has a transcendent voice similar in it’s range if not style to her heroes Kate Bush, Sinead O’Connor and Gillian Welch. The song “Walk Away” puts that voice to fine use but also takes advantage of her training as a classical double bass player. The lyrics may be a little too wispy and inconsequential for my tastes but I applaud the effort.