SOUNDTRACK: LOCAL NATIVES-“Fountain of Youth” (Field Recordings, October 5, 2016).
I know and like Local Natives, although I didn’t know this song.
In 2010, Local Natives came clattering into the indie firmament with the U.S. release of Gorilla Manor, an irresistible blend of in-vogue sonic signifiers like Afropop guitars, rich harmonies and the hint of a folk sensibility. In 2016, the band’s run has continued with the synth-heavy Sunlit Youth.
For their Field Recording, Local Natives played one of the singles off that album, “Fountain of Youth.” Though the recorded version is lush and electronic, Local Natives stripped the song to a driving core. The band played, and then it was off again — guitars in hand, headed for the evening’s show elsewhere in Brooklyn.
They sound great stripped to just two guitars and a tambourine standing on the water’s edge. [Local Natives Strips Down Its Sound For A Riverside Show]. I love this introduction:
The East River Ferry is a very fast boat. Local Natives came hurtling toward our crew up the river one overcast evening this summer, shouting three-part harmonies over roaring engines for a surprised clutch of fans. When the ferry docked, three of the band’s members hurried over to our pier off WNYC Transmitter Park to play this Field Recording.
I’m not sure which of the five Natives these are, but they harmonize wonderfully. And I really like that the main singer is playing his guitar while the second guitar is silent until later in the song when his higher notes are used as an excellent accent.
[READ: January 15, 2018] “Kinderscenen”
This was a fascinating story because of how much detail was given and how little plot there was.
This is the story of a boy, Toby. It is written in a kind of childish third person, almost by a benevolent guardian.
Sentences like:
What he does know is how Daddy’s cigarette looks in the evening when sitting on a wicker chair with the other grown-ups softly talking in a row, he flips it away its red star tracing lopsided loops before shattering into sparks on the bricks.
In his heart he knows that this is the best town in the world.
In the story, Toby helps his mother garden (by lifting the prickery bushes “holding up the bushes’ skirts” which has a naughty sound that nevertheless doesn’t make it fun.
Next door are the Eichelbergers, an elderly couple of whom Toby is vaguely afraid.
He has a playmate, Betty Lou, who peeks into things, which his mother has remarked upon. She likes his back yard which is lush, unlike hers which is barren. He doesn’t like her house much either because of the dog. Although once he did peek in on them while Betty Lou’s mother was bathing her (she stands naked on a chair in the kitchen and is washed with a wet washcloth). Toby noticed that their bottoms were similar but their fronts were not.
There is a boy, Warren who comes over. Grandmother doesn’t like him. Once when they were play wrestling Toby tripped Warren and he hit his head on the radiator–he didn’t come back over after that.
We learn more about the house and the yard and the neighbors Also about his teacher who says that grass is green because green is the most soothing color for the eyes. God designed it that way. “God made the world to suit Mankind,” Miss Kendall says.
He feels that the grown ups are sad and thinks it has to do with money. His father is a teacher but many other adults are sad about the stock market crash.
We also see that Toby is not always good. He beats up his stuffed animals. He has pounded on his grandfather when he was frightened he even sliced his Donald Duck with a razor blade (the fact that it says “once Toby got carried away with a single-edged Treet razor blade he used for cutting cardboard into shapes) tells a lot about the time. He was threatening Donald with the razor blade (!) and accidentally cut the toy. He now has a second mouth below the one in his beak.
After Pearl Harbor the US is at war and violence has taken over. There are air raids.
The other kids tease him sometimes, possibly because his father is a teacher or because he is still wearing knickers.
Once time Ricky Fritz wrestled him to the ground and he got a bloody nose. His mother called Ricky Fritz’s mother and the principal. But even worse was when Warren finally sought revenge out on the baseball field.
Daddy was there at the game but he seemed to be happy to not be in charge for a change and he just let the fight proceed. Toby was getting the worse for wear when suddenly there was his mother. I love this. He realized his mother was
seizing Warren by the hair and slapping him in the face, as loud and sharp as a baseball being hit. Then, not missing a beat, holding Toby tightly by the hand, she wheeled and with the same amazing accuracy reached out and slapped Daddy in the face, for just standing there and letting nature take its course.
That’s the most exciting thing that happens, but Updike has created such a large canvas that I have to wonder if this is just the beginning of something much bigger.
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