Lonely is still an eyesore, apparently.
…when one contemplates that Dark Was The Night is out now. This is a new compilation on 4AD that should be on everyone’s radar. Look at the tracklisting and ask yourself, am I motivated to buy this? If you are on the fence, chances are it’s a rickety fence. To help shake you off, let me offer up yet another mp3 (in addition to the Bon Iver track posted below), and also point you to the consistently interesting, if questionably titled, blog known as Pasta Primavera (run by a Baltimorean, no less), where you can sample the fabulous new Sufjan Stevens track.
I hope you enjoy this duet with Feist and Ben Gibbard (Death Cab For Cutie), and to round things out I’ve also included the original version by the alternately hibernating, alternately dazzling folk artist Vashti Bunyan. Finally, because I couldn’t resist, I’ve posted a rare Flying Burrito Brothers track, despite the fact that it relates to the subject of this post in name only.
Feist and Ben Gibbard: Train Song
Vashti Bunyan: Train Song
Flying Burrito Brothers: The Train Song
DCFC does nothing for me, but regardless I have nothing in particular against Gibbard. But the Feist/Gibbard pairing strikes me as nuts: Gibbard’s okay providing a supporting voice behind Feist, but when he does his solo turn, he’s utterly outmatched. Then Feist comes back in, and it’s like an anvil dropping through a cheesecloth — Gibbard cannot hold up against that voice.
Funny, I thought the opposite: that Gibbard got drowned out when they sang together, but held up OK solo. Still, I can’t argue your main point about who has the stronger voice. That much is clear. Here’s a question: what might a Feist/Gram Parsons duet have sounded like?