Sean: Welcome to Earshifter. He's Rene Rouleau. 

Rene: And he's Sean Capstick. And Sean, why do we do this? 

Sean: Our thesis is to expose bands that we think need more listeners, to get people to explore the bands, or if they know the band, then they can explore a little bit more from us talking about the band. But I think it's so we get to see more rock shows.

Yeah. And talk about rock shows that we just, uh, have just seen. 

Rene: Perfect. Yeah. In fact, what did we see last night? 

Sean: We saw Kevin Morby. 

Rene: So- And that is the episode ... 

Sean: would you like to talk about Kevin Morby? 

Rene: I would very much like to talk about Kevin Morby for some time, but let's talk about- ... the concert first because- Okay

'cause we just saw him last night. [00:01:00] I thought it was pretty awesome. What, like, what s- I have some things that surprised me the most about what I went in with and what I came out with. And I'm curious, like, was there anything for you? 'Cause we have not discussed this legitimately. 

Sean: Yeah. So I saw Kevin Morby on one of the Sky Blue Sky Wilco 

Rene: festivals.

Oh, that's right. You had to rub that in. Right. 

Sean: And, uh, yeah, you should really come one year, Renan. I 

Rene: would like to, I think. 

Sean: They're pretty good- Yeah ... as our listeners have heard. So I must say, and Kevin, I apologize I'll come back with something really nice to say I, you know, like, I didn't think he rocked that much.

This was on the Photograph tour. You had tried to ear shift me with Kevin Morby before that. 

Rene: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Sean: And- Actually 

Rene: coming back from another 

Sean: concert Coming back from another concert ... from a festival in Cincinnati ... and I think, I think I was too tired to listen to it. He was very- Yeah ... lyrical.

Yeah. I was, um, you know, a- and, and so the show in Mexico was more of him on the piano, more of those softer, i- they're not i- more softer. [00:02:00] They're more... Then t- last night they were more rocking, but at that time, I was like, "Okay, this is great." But I certainly loved the show last night. Oh, okay.

And I loved the new material. Like- 

Rene: Okay, so you're saying the first show you were like, "Meh, meh." 

Sean: Yeah, 

Rene: yeah. Okay. Then w- yeah, it was like- Okay ... "Okay, you know." That's what's called progress. 

Sean: Yep. 

Rene: And- Remember I talked about Waxahatchee's first show 15 years prior? Yep ... and how different she was? Not that they're connected or anything.

No, 

Sean: not that they're- No ... connected. Yeah. She did sing, but I saw him- Weird ... him play. Yeah. Weird. Yeah, 

Rene: yeah. 

Sean: Okay. So- So 

Rene: what surprised you most? So probably the rocking? 

Sean: The... No, I, I liked the non-rocking parts, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Like, I liked when he played, I don't know, like a half dozen of the songs off his, his most recent album, and I'm sure you'll talk about that.

And I thought they were all great, and they all stood out by themselves. And- What was your 

Rene: favorite? 

Sean: So I liked the... I wanna talk about the, um, the first song, Natural Disaster, but Javelin, the second song that he played, was just amazing. And that little dog [00:03:00] barking, as you say. I 

Rene: call it dog barking.

Sean: We don't know what it is. The little, the little hey, hey. 

Rene: Yeah. 

Sean: In just random in the chorus when he talks about is he a husband, is he a good person the backup keyboardist, violinist backup singer, front- Forward singer sometimes. Yep. She did the "hey, heys" on a little phone that had just been sitting beside her that was, like, perfect at the thicket.

Adorable. And he said- Yeah ... "You can sing along in the part that I know you guys all wanna sing along with." Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, that was, that was definitely a standout for me. 

Rene: Let's just listen to that right now. 

Sean: Okay. 

clip: Am I husband? Am I husband? Could this be our life, baby? Would you be my wife, baby?

Everything ending now into a beginning now. And when you fall, you get back up and run. And time paints a picture now. The world will eclipse you now. And when you [00:04:00] fall, you get back up and run towards this old cow town in the Bible Belt. Remember when they asked us, baby, just how it felt to be alone, just the two of us in middle America.

Mama, mama, mama that was a

Rene: Okay, so I have many things to say about this song. One is, um, that we just, we all love that hey, hey that you were talking about. I'm still convinced it's a dog bark, but, uh Bark, bark. That's what I think it is, but that's okay. The other thing I wanna say is Javelin, [00:05:00] from what I gathered on the interwebs it's really a song about touring and just being at that speed of touring- Mm.

Okay ... and in buses all the time across lonely small towns in America, et cetera. And then coming back and Kevin, I'm not gonna do you justice, but resolving with the fact that you're at this speed and then you go back to your home in the suburbs of Kansas City, and it's just completely silent and quiet and you've got solitude, and it's that contrast.

That's as much as I understood. The other thing I wanna say is the video, super cute too. It's just him on a motorcycle and his good friend, real good friend Caleb Hearon, who is a comedian is r- is driving the motorcycle. And he's just on the back singing the actual song. It's pretty cool. It is 

Sean: cute.

Yeah. Although, Caleb, you should wear your chin strap on your helmet. Uh, and I don't think it's actually a real motorcycle helmet that he's wearing. But aside from those safety things, yes. It's a very cute uh, video. Yeah. 

Rene: Yeah. I think... [00:06:00] And I think that's really I g- all I got to say about that song.

Do you have anything more s- You're good? Yeah. All right, so, that was definitely a highlight. That song has a great kinda uplifting energy to it. Overall, that concert Surprised me in many ways. First off, which I really love he had sparkles on his face. And again, I don't know why, pure coincidence, but Waxahatchee, the second time I saw her with her wife- Mm-hmm.

I 

Sean: didn't see that show. Yeah ... uh, 

Rene: on the Tigers Blood Tour, I believe she had sparkles on her face too, so weird. And then the other thing I wanna say is, wow, I just thought, first of all, six musicians on stage multi-instrumentalists, all of them, and it really added a lot to the show. It made it feel full and rich.

And then the other th- I have many observations. Okay, Kevin, if you do listen to this, I'm not making fun of you, I swear, but his guitar is so high on his body. Did you notice that? 

Sean: Oh, I didn't notice that. 

Rene: It's almost like early Beatles. Like, it's way up to his chest, and I guess [00:07:00] that's just the way he likes to play his guitars.

But they were all, like, way up there, way above his waist. Definitely not a slacker, right? 

Sean: Maybe, maybe it was to show off his matching jeans and denim jacket. And jean 

Rene: jacket. 

Sean: Yes. Denim 

Rene: jacket. Yeah, yeah, 

Sean: yeah. That somebody called out as a Canadian tuxedo. 

Rene: Yes, that's right. I also loved the fact that he danced around.

So I had never seen him live. I've never seen any footage. I probably should've, but I didn't. And and because a lot of his early work especially is very slow and kinda sad, and a little... We'll talk about his voice, but a little Leonard Cohen-esque. Mm-hmm. I actually imagined him sitting on a chair playing these songs somehow.

So when I saw this guy and he started breaking out and dancing on the stage, like moving around, I just thought it was great. So that was really refreshing. 

Sean: Yeah. Uh- And he danced more to his older songs than his new songs. Oh, 

Rene: did he? I did notice 

Sean: that. I thought so, yeah. Yeah, I mean, he seemed to play his new songs, and then he said, "Okay, now we're gonna play some classics," and then he loosened up.

Rene: Huh. 

Sean: And yeah, then he, he ran around the stage. Yeah. [00:08:00] Okay. 

Rene: Yeah. I thought that was great. The crowd skewed older, right? Yeah. Skewed, but I, I noticed that the middle of the crowd was just right into it. Yeah. Like, their heads were bobbing. They 

Sean: were- And liked the old stuff, liked the new stuff. 

Rene: Liked all of it.

Liked the old stuff, liked all of it. Yeah. Just really into it. 

Sean: I think there was a, a broad demographic. 

Rene: Yeah. We did discuss that last night. Yeah. I disagree, but ... Okay. And then the other part that I thought w- I've never seen before, you probably have, 'cause I think you've gone to more concerts than I have.

But I've never seen a player play somebody else's lead guitar while it's on them. So he did that at one point 

Sean: Yeah, that was kinda weird. 

Rene: I like, 

Sean: I 

Rene: was like, "That's... i've never seen that." I've just... Always just give me something different. That was different. I was down. 

Sean: Okay, I think there's a big, and I hope it doesn't happen anymore, but in the glam metal bands, that the guitar god would be playing guitar, and then the spandex-clad guy would come behind him and play the guitar with his- Oh, okay

hands, too, so yeah. But 

Rene: he was in front of him, and he was just- He was in front of 

Sean: him ... it was pretty funny So yeah, [00:09:00] so it was, it wasn't as weird as that. 

Rene: Yeah. And, and he, he talked. He did. He did. I liked that. Yeah. Do 

Sean: you like 

Rene: that? Yeah. I liked that. So he talked about going to the chiropractor in Toronto, and he had that little whoopsie where he, in Rock Bottom, where he kinda fell.

Sean: Yep. 

Rene: But he made a joke about it. Yeah. Yeah, I just I just thought it was all great. 

Sean: Yeah, it was a fun show. 

Rene: Okay, so should we talk about him some more? Okay. You've 

Sean: convinced me. 

Rene: All right. So, this guy was born in Lubbock, Texas. I didn't actually look at the pop for Lubbock, but I imagine it's pretty small.

Sean: Uh- Do you know? I don't know, but it's, it is the site of a major gravel bike ride. Oh. That's where that famous guy that didn't win the Tour de France for a little while, um- Oh, okay ... had settled and there's a big riding community in that area. Okay. That's how I know Lubbock. 

Rene: Okay. Okay. Very good.

And then he was raised in Kansas City, Missouri versus Kansas City, Kansas. He learned guitar by age 10. Dropped out of high school at 17, but, stay in school, kids. Stay in school, kids. Yes, yeah. He ac- he, [00:10:00] yeah, he actually got his high school equivalent. And then he moved to Brooklyn. He played bass very briefly in a band called Woods, which I don't even think you can find anymore.

And then he met Cassie Ramone, no relation to The Ramones obviously. 

Sean: Not, not a daughter. 

Rene: Not a daughter. And- She was from Vivian Girls? Mm-hmm. I remember the Vivian Girls, yeah. Okay, there we go. So they formed The Babies. 

Sean: Yeah, and I remember The Babies a little bit too. Oh, wow. I, I remember 

Rene: the Vivian 

Sean: Girls more.

I'm impressed. But 

Rene: yeah. I am, I am. I couldn't, 

Sean: I couldn't hum a s- tune right now, but I re- Yeah ... yeah, when, yeah, I remember when I re- was reading that, I was like, "Oh, yeah, the Vivian Girls, yeah, they were pretty cool." 

Rene: Oh, very good. So they released two albums 2011, 2012. 34,000 monthly listeners. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: For me, I did listen to them, and they're fun little pop punk uh, jangly guitar.

The one song I'd say, listeners if you were gonna listen to one song, I would say it would be Alligator. There's kind of a really cool unexpected change-up in Alligator, and I, so I appreciated that song. But we're not gonna hear it. We're gonna stick with Kevin. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: And we're gonna, we're gonna go a little fast, [00:11:00] 'cause there's a lot to cover here.

So, his first album is called Harlem River, 2013. This is when he moved from Brooklyn to LA. And he records Harlem River with producer Rob Barbato which was The Babies' producer. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: So that's the connection there. And also features The Babies' drummer Kate Leabon. And we've already kinda pre-talked a little bit about- Yeah

Kate Leabon and we are both fans. Yes. Um, she has produced Deerhunter, Dry Cleaning, Kurt Vile, Wilco, Horse Girl. And I guarantee you that in the future, I don't know when, but we will do at least two episodes on those bands. Mm-hmm. One of those two bands. 

Sean: Yep. Yeah. For sure. Now, uh, and I've seen Kate perform solo as well.

Oh, wow. She is, she's pretty avant-garde. She's very spacey in terms of her musical phrasing. Like, she is not rushing- Hmm ... a lot of, uh, things together,

Rene: sounds like I'd like that. 

Sean: Hmm, well, maybe when she [00:12:00] comes by. Yeah, she's been touring,

Rene: okay. Yep, so that, that's Harlem River, basically. I like four songs on this one.

You're gonna get a lot of that. I like three songs, two songs, one song. A standout for me is Sucker in the Void, which has a million plays, and the title track is the most played, which has 42 million plays. That's also one of my faves. But we're gonna listen to Sucker in the Void, just a little clip.

Okay. Let's go. 

clip: Like a sucker in-

Coyote, no path. Like a sucker in

Like a sucker is[00:13:00] 

Sean: Okay, so when you were trying to earshift B the first time you mentioned his musical stylings, and I think this is and one of the artists that you said Eddie's kinda like. Now, you know, this is a cop-out. We agree artists stand on their own. They are their own artists. 100%. But sometimes it's good for references- Yes

points. But that one I think you can definitely say he has been inspired by Leonard [00:14:00] Cohen. 

Rene: Yeah, exactly, right? Like, I do feel that. Don't know if it's true. I mean, he's been inspired by lots of- Yeah ... like Jeff Buckley, uh, like a whole bunch. But but yeah, I feel some Leonard Cohen in there for sure, and that's again why I expected him to be way more subdued, and it was such a joy and a surprise to see him so upbeat and lively.

It was pretty cool. Okay. So that's Harlem River. We've got a lot of albums to go through, so we're going to the next one. Still Life is the next one. So 2014, same producer, same collaborators. The most played song is Parade with 23 million plays. And it's the only song I really like on this one which might make me a basic fan, I don't know.

But we're gonna keep going. We're going to Singing Saw. Singing Saw, 2016. Here is an important part though. He switched from Woodsist Records to Dead Oceans Records. And Dead Oceans Records is based in Bloomington, Indiana of all places, which- 

Sean: Okay ... 

Rene: Yeah, I know, right? It's like, okay, cool, but wild.

[00:15:00] Because their roster is impressive. We got Akron Family. I, I don't know if you ever listened to the Akron Family. They're really... Oh, listeners, there might be an episode on them. They are pretty- They're good ... wacky, weird. I don't listen to them that often, but wow, they are strange. Have you, 

Sean: you've tried to get me to play A- 

Rene: Probably

listen to Akron Family ... Akron Family. They're the- 

Sean: I think that's- ... like 

Rene: weirdest. I love them- Okay ... 'cause they're so strange, but I don't listen to them that much 'cause they're so strange. And then we also have Mitski, which we brought up- Mm-hmm ... in previous episodes. Japanese Breakfast, which we saw live.

Who you love. Yeah. And yes, and I've, I've- You 

Sean: love some of her songs ... 

Rene: I love some of her songs for sure. Might even have an episode. I don't think we can anymore, 'cause she's got too many listeners. Destroyer and Phoebe Bridgers. So, uh, pretty impressive. This album, Singing Saw, got an 84 out of 100 on Metacritic.

Again, refresh, Metacritic is an aggregator of critics, so that's a pretty good score. And favorite track on this one for me is Dorothy, which is a, a little bouncier than I like my Kevin Morby, with the exception of the [00:16:00] last album, which we'll talk about. But they played it as a closer last night, so I kinda like that song.

It's all right. We're not gonna play it- It's a good song ... but it's a 

Sean: good song. There was no singing saw on, on Dorothy though. The multi-instruments did not include a saw, unlike Nutrimilk Hotel. 

Rene: Right. 

Sean: Right. So I was a little disappointed. But, you know, I was hoping that, that the, uh- The singing saw ... the rock flou- flautist saxophonist conga- Yeah

would also bring out the saw, but I guess- It's actually something to behold ... you can't. It's a singing saw. It's wonderful. It's pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so I think the other influence, here you can see he's in his Bruce Springsteen phase. So Dorothy is kind of a conventional rock song. He doesn't talk about you know- the same direct lyricism that Bruce Springsteen does about cars and, and, uh, getting outta here.

But there's very much a, a girl, we've gotta get outta here. And this is where he was jumping around a little bit with his guitar, so- Right, 

Rene: right ... 

Sean: I could see him channeling The [00:17:00] Boss in, uh, that song when he played it last night. 

Rene: Yeah, I, I, I, I don't think he'd disagree. Like, I think- Yeah

there is that influence for sure, am- among many. And that was a fun closer. Again, not my favorite song, but, but it was fun live. It 

Speaker 4: was fun. 

Rene: And then actually we wanna talk about another song that he played Beautiful Strangers. Mm-hmm. 'Cause I remember you mumbled over to me, it was like, "I like this one."

Sean: Yeah, I like that. And 

Rene: yeah. I 

Sean: think that's a very nice song. 

Rene: And it's a fan favorite. Yep. That's what it looked like. People were singing along. Looked like a fan favorite. So that was a single released same year as Singing Saw. It's a protest song. Did you know that? 

Sean: No. 

Rene: So it's written in response to the Paris 2015 attacks- Hmm

which was Eagles of Death Metal. Right, mm-hmm. That, that concert, right? Yep. And and also it's also written in response to Orlando Pulse Nightclub the gay nightclub shooting. Right, 

Sean: yep. 

Rene: And then the death of Freddie Gray, which I wasn't as familiar with. He was a 25-year-old African American who suffered, uh, fatal injuries from the Baltimore police during an arrest.

Hmm, okay. Uh, yeah, he was holding a knife, and they basically killed him. [00:18:00] Proceeds for that song, I think to this day, are donated to Everytown for Gun Safety. 

Sean: Nice. 

Rene: Yeah. And you know, not a personal favorite of mine, but Sean, you did mumble to me last night- I liked that, yeah ... that you liked this song.

Yeah. So- 

Sean: When I was listening to the besties that you can download on your streaming service and listen to, uh, all of Rene's curated songs, you put this one on, and I was like, "Yeah, I like this song." 

Rene: Yeah. And oh, and do you remember, he actually s- so this gives you context 'cause last night he said, "Fuck ice."

Remember? Yeah. So now you actually, uh, fully understand. It's like, oh, that's why he said that. Yeah, so, um, so why don't we listen to just a little bit of that? 

Sean: Okay. 

clip: If you ever hear that sound now, if the door gets kicked in, here they come now. Think of others, be their cover. I am what they're not.

Pray for Paris. They cannot scare us or [00:19:00] stop the music

You got a sweet voice, child. Why don't you use it?

If I die too young, or if the gunmen come, I'm full of love

So release me, every piece of me, up above

Rene: All right. So then we get to his next album, City Music- Okay ... 2017. And Sean, you know how we try to figure out where we learned about this band the first time? 

Sean: Yep, their origin story. Uh, 

Rene: the origin story. In this case I thought it was my friend Greg, and then Lee came up to me. He seemed to think it was him.

And then I remembered I watched this show called The Sinner with Bill Pullman. Uh, it had about four seasons, and on [00:20:00] season three, it was a very dark, haunting episode, and it's kind of based on either two brothers or two best friends and their pursuit of feeling alive by pushing the boundaries to death.

And that's kind of as far as I'll go with it. But it's a pretty dark and haunting season overall. And then I think it's like episode five or something, this song comes on

clip: Talk to me now like you do then. Pretty and slow, pretty and thin. Ain't got no friend in a world so big. Ain't got no family, ain't got no [00:21:00] kin. Where do you go, boy, when you die? Is it pretty and slow? Is it up real high? I don't wanna know. I can't wait for the sun to go down. Tired of-

See it in my eyes that I love her. Yeah, I do

Oh, I love her and she loves me too

Rene: Okay, so when that song came on, dude, I was like, "Who the fuck is that?" And I had to Shazam it, like, immediately, and I think I listened to that song on loop [00:22:00] for a good hour or something. But there is another song on this album that- Okay ... I actually pulled up just for you, man, 'cause I just found out about this and I was like, "Oh, I gotta share this with Sean.

He's gonna love it." So it's a song called 1234. It's fast. It's a fun two-minute song. But towards the end, Sean, there's a nod to Jim Carroll's People Who Died. Okay. Hmm. Episode three, season one. 

Sean: Yep. 

Rene: And he actually, at the very end, goes, "Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, Tommy, they were all friends of mine, and they died."

Sean: And they did die. Yeah. Yeah. RIP the Ramones. 

Rene: Yeah, RIP the Ramones. But I thought that was pretty cool. And, uh, so the critics 80 out of 100 in Metacritic, and Pitchfork gave it an 8.1, that album, City Music. Okay, so 2017, we've been hinting at this, but 2017 they do a cover of another band that we quite like, Velvet Underground.

They do a cover of After Hours, and he does [00:23:00] the cover with who? With KD. With KD Crutchfield, other- AKA- Waxahatchee ... Waxahatchee. And shout out to Waxahatchee. She is the only artist requiring two separate episodes- ... uh, in our history, and we've done about 25 episodes now. Um, I think we did one episode each, uh, just to avoid fighting over her.

Sean: Mm-hmm. Yep. That's a good way of putting it. 

Rene: Yeah, yeah. Um, so- 

Sean: And because you failed to like her rock album. 

Rene: Oh, let's not go on a negative, Sean. Okay. I'm sorry. Yeah, 

Sean: yeah, yeah. You are still yet to embrace her rock too. 

Rene: But I love all of her other stuff. You love 

Sean: her all the other songs. 

Rene: Okay. So let's talk about them because they're, they are a couple.

Sean: Well, and After Hours is such an interesting pick because that was a song that Lou Reed wrote for Moe Tucker, who, you know- Oh ... he never had a relationship. He had a relationship with Nico- Yeah, yeah ... of course, in the band. But- Yeah ... that was very much, Moe the drummer was quiet, reserved, and but really [00:24:00] was the driving beat behind the Velvet Underground and on those songs.

So it was very simple drumming but very impactful. Effective, yeah. Effective. And she sings the, that, those lovely reserved, retiring lyrics. It is a, a wonderful little song, so. We can't play it, but I encourage everybody to listen to it. 

Rene: Yeah, exactly. And so, yeah- 

Sean: Both versions ... 

Rene: and, and they used to play it live.

So the way they met was they met while touring together in 2017. They, you know, they'd hang out backstage, but frequently they'd do covers, like that one- Mm-hmm ... on stage together as the tour progressed. Uh, you know, just to update you they s- they now live in a mid-century modern ranch house-

in suburban, in suburban Overland Park in Kansas, which is just outside of Kansas City. And she is about to give birth- Yeah ... uh, with his child- Wonderful ... hopefully his child. 

Sean: Yeah, wonderful, wonderful news. Yeah. 

Rene: Yeah, wonderful news. It's due this summer. And so what they did after [00:25:00] the tour was they actually did some covers, so that was one of the covers.

But later they recorded covers of Jason Molina as well. Yeah. Songs of- ... several of his songs. 

Sean: Yeah. Yeah. And that, that what is it? Farewell Transmissions? 

Rene: Yes. 

Sean: Is a haunting, beautiful song, right? 

Rene: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so we've now exposed them. They're a couple. You can read it in your Fanbeat, in your teen magazines.

Yeah. All right, let's go to the next album, which is Oh My God, 2019. Critical acclaim again. Personal faves of mine Piss River and the title track, Oh My God. And what we're gonna hear is we're gonna hear Piss River, but if you're a first-time listener, you're gonna go, "Oh, Rene made a mistake. He played Oh My God."

No, listener, I did not make a mistake.

clip: You want to play chess inside my chest. You move, I move. You choose, I choose. And who, who, who? I beg like an owl as I sit [00:26:00] on my perch and I stare and I scowl. I know I left you, but I cannot forget you. Now I only know how to harm or upset you. See, I came for your love, but I stayed for your anger. You rocked me, mama, like a baby in a manger.

And oh my God, mama

Rene: Okay, so that's Piss River. And we're gonna move on to Sundowner 2020. Now, this is the first album where consistently I like more and more songs. And, and so, it's really coming together for [00:27:00] me personally. I'm sure we're, we're hopefully talking to some fans that are hardcore fans, like, "Rene, you're dead wrong.

Like, the early stuff is the better stuff," but that's just personal choice. Um- That's 

Sean: fandom. 

Rene: That's fandom. But Sundowner is produced by some guy named Brad Cook. 

Sean: Okay. We've, we've talked about him in past episodes as well. Yeah. 

Rene: I don't recall. Can you tell me what episodes? 

Sean: Waxahachie, the MJ Lenderman.

Yeah. 

Rene: And wasn't he in We- no, he wasn't in Wednesday, but he was in Snow Caps. 

Sean: He's in Snow Caps. 

Rene: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So, so this album, Morby described it as, quote, "My attempt to put the middle American twilight, its beauty profound, though not always immediate, into sound." And, uh, standout tracks for me are Valley, Sundowner, Campfire, Don't Underestimate, Provisions, but we're gonna hear Campfire.

And the thing is, we're gonna hear Campfire, and they played it last night. Uh, we're gonna hear Campfire. We're gonna hear it in two parts though, 'cause essentially it's two songs in [00:28:00] one, and there's this quiet middle part that lasts for 40 seconds. In concert it was the w- the woman sorry, we don't know your name, but lovely.

She actually had that voice- Mm-hmm ... to fill that 40 seconds. Yes. But it's much louder in concert than it is on the, on the actual track. You literally, if your track's low, you wouldn't hear anything. So we're gonna hear part one right now. 

clip: No man, goddamn, came to take my soul At the door been lucky In where have all of my friends gone?

And where did all my friends

And where have all my friends gone? They belong 

Rene: Okay, so same song, but we're gonna hear part [00:29:00] two. But between part one and part two I'm calling them parts, no one else does we have hon- honestly like a record static, really quiet, and a quiet, haunting Katie Crutchfield vocal for about 40 seconds, barely audible.

Uh, and now let's hear part two.

clip: I walked a tightrope, devil on one side of me. Held by an angel, put poems inside of me. Down to my mouth, said, "Won't you recite to me?" Okay

Every first Wednesday, there goes that sound again. Sun's going down, and she's a sundown. Stay calm, stay calm, and give me your palm. Give me your palm, and I'll sing you a song. Young kids smoke cigarettes out on the avenue. Sun's going down, so you might as well have a few. Hey, who are you? Did you hear the news?

Anthony's dead, and poor [00:30:00] Richard too. They billow, they billow, and it makes me nervous. They whittle a fiddle from wood in our service. Now that it's dusk, kids scatter the avenues. Hey, who are you?

Rene: All right, so that's the second half of that song, and we purposely played it to the signature Kevin Morby woo. Sorry if that hurt your ears. But it's, it's very, um, it is very signature Kevin Morby. And when he did it live, it was just like everyone was just waiting for it and just wooed with him, basically.

Yeah. So- 

Sean: And it was nice, and he turned the mic to the audience and- That's 

Rene: right ... 

Sean: encouraged participation. Yeah. And that's where he completed his rock trinity because that was, I think, one of his more Dylan-ish songs. They're all kind of Dylan-ish, but yes, that was very much in the lyrical style of the great songwriter, so.

Yeah, [00:31:00] yeah. Yeah, and it's nice, and it's nice how he combines those three themes in his music, right? And makes it his own, his own whoop. 

Rene: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, and his, his voice, you know, just talk about that a little bit more is it's kinda haunting. 

Sean: Yes. 

Rene: It's, it's intimate. 

Sean: Yep. 

Rene: And purposefully almost played down at times, which makes those real ups real ups, right?

I'm thinking of Badlands, actually. I think there's a point where it just breaks out, and you're like, "Woo." It's crazy. Oh, I just did a woo on a woo. All right, so let's go on to the next album. The next album's called This Is a Photograph. 2022, so we're getting close. If you're keeping track, listeners, this is the seventh studio album.

The inspiration for this album is Memphis, Tennessee. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: Um, and also his music and his lyrics actually have m- usually multiple layers to them. So it is about that, but it's also about fear of death because his dad pretty much collapsed at a family dinner previous to that, and so that kinda stirred him [00:32:00] up, too.

But it is about Memphis, Tennessee, as well. In particular inspirations are Elvis Presley- Mm, okay ... Jack, uh, Jeff Buckley, who died there. Okay. And Jay Reatard. Yeah, I didn't know who he was either. But all three died in Memphis. And also, uh, the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated- Hmm

was Memphis, Tennessee. So that album overall is is kind of inspired by that. Critics love this one. My personal faves are four songs and, but I got a new one, actually. I, I think it's five songs now 'cause Rock Bottom I kind of missed somehow. And when he played Rock Bottom, I'm like, "This is a good rockin' song," so that's on the list, too, and you can listen to that song playlist whenever you want, listeners.

So then he did a follow-up album, kinda like a sister album, called More Photographs. 

And on More Photographs I kind of liked five songs on that one too, so it was a pretty solid follow-up if not sister album. Still not my favorite all [00:33:00] album though, because which one is my favorite album?

Sean: His ninth. 

Rene: His ninth. And most recent. His ninth and most recent studio album, Little Wide Open, Sean, 2026. This is a no skip album for me. I have been listening to it, like incessantly for probably a month 

Sean: almost. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's great. 

Rene: And it doesn't make me sad, unlike his partner's first two albums, which I have no skips, but I can't listen to 'cause they make me too sad.

Uh, this one doesn't make me sad. So- 

Sean: No, it's an uplifting album. Yeah. It's, it's, uh, it's... There's a lot of great good themes on this. 

Rene: Yeah. So let's talk about how this album came together. So, uh- A guy named Aaron 

Sean: Dessner Mm-hmm. 

Rene: Have you heard of him? 

Sean: I, I've heard his band. 

Rene: Yeah, The National. 

Sean: And his brother's band.

I think it's, I think it's more of his brother's band. 

Rene: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He plays 

Sean: faster. 

Rene: Yeah, that's right. That's right. So Aaron Dessner of The National asked Morby to support The National in a London concert. 

Sean: Hmm, okay. Uh- That's [00:34:00] a pretty good command performance. 

Rene: Right? And then later after that, he actually, uh, I believe called him or somehow reached out to him and told him he would like to produce his next album.

So Aaron Dessner is the producer of Little Wide Open. They recorded at Dessner's Long Pond studio. It's a secluded cabin in Hudson Valley, New York. And Morby talks about the inspiration for this album and again, I can't state enough, this is my favorite album hands down, no skips. Wow, what a trajectory this guy is having.

Oh, and incidentally, we usually do this at the end, but let's talk about monthly listeners. Okay. This is insane. So when I picked this dude, which was, by the way, three years ago when we did our banned list- ... I had Kevin Morby on there. 

Sean: Yeah, that's right. Yeah, and I was like, "Okay, you're gonna try to convince me again."

Rene: Yeah, so I had him on there, and I think he had, like, 600,000 monthly listeners at best, I think. And he now has, like, 1.7 million current monthly listeners. 

Sean: And that's, so that's almost double since [00:35:00] we actually scheduled him and started- 

Rene: That's right ... 

Sean: talking about it. That's 

Rene: right. 

Sean: Okay. You can thank EarShifter for that big, uh, movement in-

uh, uh, listeners. Yeah. Okay, yep, check. We're exposing another artist. That's really good, Rene. Yeah. Our mission- You're welcome ... our mission's not done yet. Yeah. But I'm glad that we've got some good validation for- Yeah ... what we set out to do. 

Rene: So Kevin talks about the lyrical inspiration for this album. And it's him talking about the Midwest, 'cause obviously there's a, there's a huge fascination with that.

And he says, "There's something unintentionally musical about the Midwest. You got the cicadas chirping in the trees, a train passing, a tornado siren going off. If you listen, there are almost ominous sounds taking place beneath the wide open sky. And in its ugliness and its beauty and how the two are often working together simultaneously," that's technically for him what the Badlands are, which is the Midwest.

Which is not really the Badlands, but to him it's the Badlands. Metacritic, 86 out of 100. [00:36:00] Pitchfork, 8 out of 10. Pitchfork said, "Little Wide Open is the most cohesive, tuneful, and cleanly drawn album from Morby's career." Agreed. 

Sean: Yep. 

Rene: And then my bold prediction, Sean, is when we do do our best of 2026, this will most definitely be on my list.

Sean: I think that's not a... I wouldn't bet the under on that. 

Rene: All right, so 

Sean: what- And Drescher, and Drescher is like he is... He's gone out and posted stuff about how this is the best album he's ever produced. Like, he's, he, he's b- all bought into this album as well, which 

Rene: is- Is that a direct quote from Dessner?

Sean: Which is high praise, 'cause he's produced a lot of really, really good albums. 

Rene: Like Taylor Swift's- Yeah ... Folklore and Evermore. We're afraid of the Swiftie army. Please don't come at us. I actually like those albums quite a bit, so, um, but that's a bold statement. Yeah, it's high praise. It's high praise.

That is a bold statement. Yeah, that is crazy. Okay, so listen, like here's the thing. You pick any song, and I'm gonna be like, "Yep, let's play that one." So but I do have a, [00:37:00] a couple of favorites. 

Sean: Except you're not giving me choice this time. 

Rene: I, I'm giving you some choice. You 

Sean: give, you give me choice when I'm like, "I don't know what to choose."

Rene: You already, you already played, we already played one of them. 

Sean: Yeah. 

Rene: But 100,000 I love. Yeah. Badlands I love, and the title track Little Wide Open I love. If you wanna play something other than that, that's cool, but it'd be great if you picked one... Or Natural Disaster. Or Natural Disaster. 

Sean: Okay, let's hear Natural 

Rene: Disaster.

Uh, let's hear Natural Disaster. Let's do it. 

Speaker 5: That love may not want you Then that love will haunt you. And no, you won't die. They'll just simply leave your side. Disappear into the mystery. Disappear into the little lie. And you'll cry, cry, baby, you'll cry

Sean: Okay, [00:38:00] so I love that it's a seven-minute song. He's- there's many verses, but that verse was sung by Lucinda Williams, and her voice is hoarse now. It's getting more throaty as she matures, but that's really a nice little verse And then the next verse, he comes in with kind of a chorus, the, "I'm up in the morning and back down in the evening," how he starts the song.

Then he makes at least six rhymes with afters, laughter, so there's a, a little bit of a- 

Rene: Yeah. Yeah ... 

Sean: a forced rhyme. Then he sings, "Songs on the 

Rene: Stratocaster"- Yes ... "

Sean: are players up, stuck up in the rafters, are epilogues after our chapters," and then comes back to the song title, Natural Disaster. So I th- you know, like, yeah, it's a, it's a great song, and it was a, it was a really nice way to open the set, where he, his band joined him- 

Rene: Oh, it was 

Sean: powerful

as, uh, he [00:39:00] was playing that song. 

Rene: It was powerful. That was, that was a goosebump moment, for sure. It's interesting, and so lyrically, he's got chops. 

Sean: Yeah. For sure. He likes to rhyme. 

Rene: Yeah. Yeah, a- and, and actually, it's interesting, 'cause for that song in particular, I loved when he says, "When I find a good thing, not sure that I deserve it."

Like, how did I earn this? And then later he says, "Oh, so I burn it down and collect the insurance." Yes. I just love that. I- I- blew my mind. So that's Natural Disaster, folks. And then I just have one closing thing to say. He actually did a soundtrack to a lovely, somewhat sad film called Montana Story.

Okay. And I don't think many people know about this. No. But great little movie, actually. Reminds me of another movie that's just kind of a sad, quiet, lovely story, uh, another film called Short Term 12. But anyway, Montana Story, he did the soundtrack, and it's just lovely. It has moments of sadness, and, and he did a collab with [00:40:00] Kitty Crutchfield again on that album.

But other than that, I think that closes it out. A fantastic show, fantastic last album. My God. So why is he an Earshifter band? I'll tell you. I think he actually has a very unique ownership of his singing style that delivery, that understated delivery, and and kind of just a unique perspective, too, on the Midwest- partially 'cause he was raised there. And honestly, what a great performance. I truly enjoyed his show. 

Sean: Yeah. And I think it does prove our thesis, right, that it takes a little while to understand an artist and to, for the artist to grow on you, and it may not happen right away. And so we like different musics, we like different musical styles.

This is definitely an overlap in terms of our country and melancholy that, Yeah ... that we both like. And so yeah, he's an Earshifter band because His latest album is [00:41:00] amazing, and if we hadn't stuck with it, if you hadn't been that, "Hey, let's listen to this guy. Let's go to this guy," then would've missed out.

So he is an example of why we should keep listening and do more episodes because we can introduce more bands and have fun talking about them. 

Rene: Yeah, and keep exploring. Yeah. Both of us. And, and you listeners too. Yeah. Keep exploring. It's it's great out there, and there's more to offer than what the radio offers.

Sean: Yep. Let's continue to be a trusted personal recommendation as opposed to the algorithm 

Rene: At least for each other 

Sean: Yeah, at least for each other, and maybe for anybody who's along for the ride. Yeah. But that's... You mentioned it. We've done a lot of episodes. This is the end of our second season, and that's great.

Woo-hoo. You know, like, uh, yeah, I'm, I am so happy to be doing this with you, buddy. 

Rene: Me too, man. 

Sean: Yeah. Me too. It's so much fun. 

Rene: Never gonna get sick of this, and sometimes people go, "Aren't you gonna run out of bands?" And we both laugh in their faces. 

Sean: You may be more [00:42:00] the face laugher. I, I, I say no- Yeah ... and then think about all of the bands that I think they should be listening to- Exactly

and that we could, uh, earshift them with. 

Rene: Yeah, exactly. Speaking of which, what's our next band, Sean? 

Sean: So for season three, I would like to go back to a band that was right there at the beginning of our, not our, our initial meeting, but in terms of when we really formed this intense bond in terms of musical

Rene: Musical 

Sean: appreciation

sharing 

Rene: musical appreciation. Yeah. Yeah. 

Sean: Yeah. And maybe introduce a little bit of controversy because based on what, uh, the little bit that I've talked about this is the origin story may be a little bit debated on this Agree ... in terms of who introduced who- Yes. 

Rene: Yes. 

Sean: Convince us ... to this artist that's celebrating his 40th anniversary of making music- Oh

under a stage name. 

Rene: Okay. 

Sean: Yeah, think [00:43:00] about that. Yeah. Yeah. Any, 

Rene: any hints as to who it is, though 

Sean: for the listeners? Uh, well, he continues to release at least an album a year over time as well as writing books, and he was a newspaper columnist as well. 

Rene: And does he have something on his face too? 

Sean: He has an eye patch, and he's a little tricky.

Rene: Okay. All right. Those are good clues, listeners. 

Sean: Okay. Until next time. 

Rene: We hope you enjoyed this episode of EarShifter. Tune in next time where we'll cover another band that deserves more. You can find EarShifter on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, friend us, or listen to our playlists on Spotify, and visit earshifter.com for more information.

Special thanks go to our logo designer, Stuart Thursby, and our intro/outro music by Joe Novak. You can find him as byebyebadman, one word, on SoundCloud, and a big shout-out to Joe for being our awesome sound engineer/editor. Until next [00:44:00] time.