I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: CATE LE BON-“Company in My Back” (from WILCOvered, UNCUT Magazine November 2019).

The November 2019 issue of UNCUT magazine had a cover story about Wilco.  It included a 17 track CD of bands covering Wilco (called WILcovered or WILCOvered).  I really enjoyed this collection and knew most of the artists on it already, so I’m going through the songs one at a time.

Cate Le Bon is a fascinating character, an esoteric Welsh singer who experiments with interesting sounds.  I don’t know that there’s many people like her.  I’m looking forward to seeing her live with Kurt Vile in a couple of months.

Her take on this familiar song is pretty simple—she sings with a kind of deadpan delivery which really accentuates the words.  The verses are a sort of repetitive sound that sounds like a full-sized toy piano with some cool bass lines throughout.

When the chorus kicks in there’s all kind of unexpected horn sounds flitting about.

It’s pretty far from the original but is really fun.

[READ: February 2, 2020] Rust Vol. 2

Volume 2 resumes right where the last book left off.  We’re at the Taylor farm and Roman is looking at the pitchfork that Jesse used to stop the machine that was heading toward the farm.  But Roman has more questions about the pitchfork than the machine.  After inspecting it he decides that only Jesse’s grandfather, Mr. Aicot could have made a pitchfork that could stop a machine like that.

Roman fixes up the machine so that it will repair his truck.  But it seems to go after Jesse–it stops short of doing anything to her but it sure gives her the creeps.  This is a good point to say how cool these machine robots are.  Their faces are essentially a triangular Venetian blind look.  Horizontal lines with a pointed front (like a nose).  They are dressed in long coats and look incredibly menacing.

Meanwhile Jet is feeling weaker and weaker.  Oz is spying on him and sees Jet remove his power cell–Oz realizes that jet is a robot!  This freaks him out.  He bikes to Mr Aicot’s house and reveals the secret.  Mr Aicot says that he knew already, but he never said anything to anyone because no one would believe him,

Then he has some things to show Oswald.

Back with Roman, Jesse is helping him by welding some of the machines back together  She’s a good welder (and doesn’t use welding gloves, which makes Roman smile). Roman really likes her company, although he would never come out and say it.

While they are working, a man with thick glasses and a big beard approaches the farm.  Amy is in the tree house and he starts talking to her. Soon enough Roman comes out to see what the deal is.   The man is looking for a boy whom they all assume is Jet.  Roman politely sends him on his way.  I need to ad in here that I love Amy and her friend Ava.  I love their expressions and their naivete.

Mr Aicot shows Oswald how the oil cells works and then shows him that the cell that he is currently using to power his garage is a different kind of cell.  It looks the same, although he knows little about it.

When Roman and Jesse get he robot up and running, Roman assume its is going to fix the back porch but when it goes in the wrong direction.  Roman tries to interfere with it, but it elbows Roman in the face and then heads right for the barn and Jet (and Oz).

Jet grabs Oswald who has a working oil cell in his bag and flies off with him.  This worries Roman and Jesse.  Also, the man with the beard sees him fly through the air so he knows he’s nearby.

The robot follows and a fight ensues.  Jet drops Oswald in a grain car on a train.  But Oz refuses to give Jet the bag because he’s feels that Jet’s a monster just like the others.  As the fight ends, Oz is stuck on the train to who knows where.

The book ends with Oswald’s letter.  We see Roman’s typed letters to his dad throughout the story.  Roman tells him his thoughts and concerns but seems mostly upbeat.  In this book, we learn that Roman’s father fought the soldiers when they came to draft him to the war (Roman and Jesse saw him fighting off the soldiers).  But he and Jesse’s father were both sent to the war.

Oswald’s letter is handwritten and he says that things are not going well on the farm.  Roman is behind on everything because he spends all his time working on the robots.  He says he doesn’t trust Jet Jones.  And  we see that the letter is addressed to Lieutenant Taylor–so apparently their dad is alive, not dead as I had assumed.

Once again the artwork is great.  The robots are really creepy and the scenery is magnificent.  Even though Lepp has a somewhat unconventional style of drawing faces–especially Roman–he manages to make Jesse quite pretty.

I’m looking forward to book three.