New Mix: Josh Ritter, Ian Chang, Moses Sumney And More
Clockwise from upper left: Flotation Toy Warning, Ian Chang, Josh Ritter, Moses Sumney, Common Holly Courtesy of the artists hide caption
You'll want to listen to this week's show on a good pair of headphones, preferably in the dark and, if you take drummer Ian Chang's advice, while getting a massage. We open the program with a spine-tingling cut called "ASMR," from Chang's debut solo EP, an arresting instrumental piece inspired by the inexplicable chills that sometimes run down your back. It's just the first in a series of sonic delights on the show.
NPR Music's Marissa Lorusso joins us to share a head-spinning, endlessly evolving track from the Canadian rock band Common Holly; our intern Jenna Li shares the transfixing voice of singer Moses Sumney; and NPR classical music editor Tom Huizenga, the last in our series of guest contributors this week, closes the program with the gorgeous instrumental piece "Light Blooms In Hollow Space."
Also on the show: Bob Boilen shares a special essay and brand new song from Josh Ritter, who reveals the profound sense of dread, sadness and laughter behind his latest project, Gathering; Canadian folk artist The Weather Station; and Flotation Toy Warning, one of our favorite discoveries of 2004, finally returns after a 13-year break with a song about growing old, looking back at lost youth and the power of love.
Songs Featured On This Episode
Ian Chang
- Song: ASMR
- from Spiritual Leader
Ian Chang, a brilliant drummer with the bands Son Lux and Landlady, will release, Spiritual Leader, his debut solo EP, on Sep. 22. Using a drum kit wired to trigger guitar samples, Chang joins two unlikely worlds on "ASMR" — the physicality of drumming and ambient music.
01If After All
Common Holly
- Song: If After All
- from Playing House
"If After All," by the Montreal artist Common Holly, follows a melody from quirkily ornamented acoustic to edgy, processed rock. Songwriter Brigitte Naggar explains that the opener to her new album, Playing House, "flirts with a range of feelings: tired, coy, frustrated, resigned" and confronts the harshest versions of herself.
The Weather Station
- Song: Thirty
"As a woman, 30 is the age you're taught to fear" says The Weather Station's Tamara Lindeman. "When you're 25 you picture it like falling off the edge of a cliff into some amorphous, bisected destiny — one path being children and suburbia and the other some sort of cartoonish loneliness." Lindeman says she wrote this song about the precise moment when "joy [is] on the cusp of despair."
Josh Ritter
- Song: Showboat
- from Gathering
On Gathering, Josh Ritter finds himself carried by a consuming sonic and visual project that is both uncertain and contemplative. On the album's first single, "Showboat," Ritter explores internal tumult to project a larger-than-life image of himself. Listen to Ritter's spoken essay on the project on this episode and examine his accompanying artwork on the All Songs blog.
Flotation Toy Warning
- Song: A Season Underground
- from The Machine That Made Us
After a thirteen-year disappearance and near dissolution, Britain's sonically surreal and mysterious Flotation Toy Warning is back with an album called The Machine That Made Us. "A Season Underground" is full of their peculiar mix of old and new sounds, with misfit elements both odd and inviting.
Moses Sumney
- Song: Doomed
- from Aromanticism
"Doomed" is the stunning first cut released from Moses Sumney's debut full-length, Aromanticism. Sumney, who's toured with Sufjan Stevens and performed with Solange, is known for his remarkable voice and smoldering harmonies. "Doomed" asks the question: "If my heart is idle — am I vital or am I doomed?"
From The Mouth of the Sun
- Song: Light Blooms in Hollow Space
- from Hymn Binding
See-sawing piano, pump organ, and deep, plaintive cello breathe together in this heart-aching contemporary classical composition by the duo Dag Rosenqvist and Aaron Martin. The stirring arrangement for "Light Blooms in Hollow Space" — taken from their third album, Hymn Binding— harnesses the possibility of electronic instrumentation and the warmth of acoustic sound into a resonant, breathtaking melody.