Viking's Choice: Chris Weisman, 'Backpack People'
Chris Weisman. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Chris Weisman.
Courtesy of the artistChris Weisman's songs shouldn't work. Or, at the very least, the massive volume and musical limits the Battleboro, Vt., singer places on his songs shouldn't work. Stretching his output over cassettes, split releases, CDs with long track lists and even an 88-song YouTube album, Weisman must have hundreds of two-minute songs — not to mention many more unrecorded — each committed to the sparest instrumentation and a curious sense of melody.
This one, "Backpack People" (from The Holy Life That's Coming), is an acoustic song whose melancholy melody twists the simplest observations ever so slightly, just enough to make listeners take a step back and wonder what Weisman sees and hears.
The Holy Life That's Coming comes out Feb. 26 on NNA Tapes.