I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: SLOWDIVE-“Sugar for the Pill” (Field Recordings, June 13, 2017).

It has been nearly a year since NPR Music broadcast its last Field Recording.  From 2012-2017, these were fun, interesting opportunities to put a band in an unlikely setting and have them play a song live,

There are 80 some of these recordings (see the whole shebang here), and I’ve decided to focus on “Slowdive Fills A Shuffleboard Parlor With Shimmering Sound.”

Before a month-and-change ago, Slowdive hadn’t released an album in 22 years. So you’d be forgiven for watching the band perform “Sugar For The Pill” and struggling to pin down what era you’re in — especially since NPR Music plopped the group in a playfully retro Brooklyn shuffleboard parlor for the occasion.

This live recording might be stripped down (I’m not sure), but it sounds great. Neil Halstead plays a pretty, shimmering guitar and sings with his distinctive whispered vocals.  Rachel Goswell is there to provide her delicate harmonies as well.  With them are Nick Chaplin (I assume) on bass.  The bass sounds terrific.  The low end is really good and moves the song along perfectly.  Simon Scott is there to add electronic drums.

A patient mid-tempo gem that’s as hooky as it is hypnotic, “Sugar For The Pill” is a particular highlight, so it’s a joy to watch the reconstituted band trot it out for this Field Recording, filmed at Royal Palms Shuffleboard in Brooklyn.

I don;t understand how this song sounds so good in a shuffleboard facility, but it does.  It sounds great.

[READ: January 4, 2017] “Dido’s Lament”

I really love Hadley’s stories.  I love that she is able to write compellingly about small moments–moments that aren’t going to end a person’s life, but will certainly impact it.

This story starts with Lynette.  She is shopping in a John Lewis–and is quite embarrassed about it.  She is described as “tall, anxious, original, in her late thirties…her hair was shaved above her ears and the rest of it, dyed bronze and pink, was piled up in a striking bird’s nest mess.” It’s the way she throws in that word “original” that I love.

A man pushes though the crowd and knocks her over.  She stumbles and hurts her ankle while trying not to trip over a stroller.

There is no way she is going to let this guy do that and not apologize or acknowledge what he did.  So she runs after him.  She is determined not to hobble or let anyone see her in pain, so she deals with the pain and goes in pursuit of the coat that she knows he is wearing.

She finally catches him on a subway platform.  She taps him on the shoulder ready to yell at him  But when he turns around, she realizes that not only does she know him, she used to be married to him.  She and Toby had separated nine years earlier.  He seems bigger now, but more confident in his ways.  Rather than yell at him, she was struck mute until he turned and was so excited to see her!

When he invites her for coffee, she says that she has plans (which is a lie) but that she can spare some time.

On the train they are able to talk amid the crowd.  And she says the thing that looks so different about him is that he looks prosperous.  They fell into an easy chat and he told her about his wife and two children.  She knew about them from Facebook, of course. Ultimately he says that they should just go back to his place rather than fighting a crowd on a busy winter night.

She has no interest in meeting his wife, but he informs her that his wife and kids are out of town and he has the place to himself.

Like Lynette, I wondered if that mean that Toby had bedroom thoughts on his mind (I’d been reading a few stories about infidelity lately anyhow).  But no, he seems to just want to show her that since she broke up with him, he landed on his feet and has become quite successful.  He has “gotten over her” as she said he would.

She had also gotten over him. It was her idea for them to split so she could pursue a singing career: as long as they were together, she wasn’t free to give herself over to her work completely.  She had ambition and plans but has since discarded them when she realized she wasn’t as good as she’d hoped.  Although she was performing as a guest in a student production of Dido and Aeneas.

They have a really nice time together, and are each quite cordial to each other as they discuss good old times and she remembers some of the bad times.

As she heads out, she writes her cell number on his white board in the kitchen–the one with the grocery list on it.

I loved the way the end of the story gives us a brief glimpse into Toby’s life.  His concern about his wife’s seeing any hint that Lynette was there (even if nothing happened)–I’m curious to hear more about his home life.

I also love the way as soon as he closes the door on her, it’s as if a whole new story, the one that has been hiding underneath, is finally unleashed.

It’s another great story from Hadley.