In Portland, Oregon I was lucky enough to meet up with Coattrack Records owner and curator Daniel Schultz. We talked a lot about Fresno, CA and its downtown’s interesting decay and the venues that serve as an Oasis from the urban dissolve. Daniel also hooked it up with some tapes. Niilo Smeds – High Winds was one of them.
This is some classic singer songwriter stuff, acoustic guitar and vocals with occasional ambient sounds floating around in the tape fuzz. The guitar work is solid and the recording is pretty lo fi. Thematically this music is pretty depressing and typical of most brooding songwriters. Lots of little metaphors here and there glue the songs together and help you work your way through the songs. Just over six songs this little EP is fine, but only one song really spoke to me and it was the last song on the B side “Rat Shadows”.
“I came to you with nothing and I am leaving just the same, if you change your mind like a rabbit in the street I’ll be your padded feet, I came to you with nothing and I am leaving just the same, in the sober night, rat shadows, on the moon.”
Either way, check it out, it grows a little with each listen and Coattrack’s visual aesthetic is quite realized so either way you are getting something nice.
