SOUNDTRACK: MUZZ-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #162 (January 29, 2021).
I had not heard of Muzz before this set. They are a project of Interpol singer Paul Banks.
Paul Banks and Josh Kaufman have known each other since childhood. You likely know Paul Banks as the singer for Interpol; Josh Kaufman is a producer and one-third of Bonny Light Horseman. They are both friends with drummer Matt Barrick, who played a Tiny Desk concert in 2012 with his band The Walkmen.
The trio plays three songs from their self-titled debut album. I’m not sure what the record sounds like (Barnes suggests that at least one of the songs is more rocking), but this is a mellow gathering.
Josh Kaufman told me via email that “Paul was stuck in Glasgow and Matt and I were quarantining with families in Philadelphia and Brooklyn, respectively. At the very end of a long couple of days of rehearsal and taping, we — very late at night, Paul jet-lagged and the rest plain exhausted — stayed awake a little longer to try a campfire style strum along to some of the songs from our new LP. The result here is our Tiny Desk.”
All three of them are wearing masks and Barnes can sing no problem–people need to lighten up about the masks.
“Bad Feeling” has one guitar from Kaufman and quiet malleted drums as Banks sings. I don’t really hear Interpol in this at all, it’s much folkier
“Knuckleduster” is kind of a rock n roll song but they’re playing it rather quietly. It doesn’t sound any different in this format except the drums are heavier and there are some deeper chords.
Barnes picks up a guitar for “Trinidad” and plays the opening melody. Having the two guitars playing harmonies is really nice. The drums are just brushes rubbed on the heads. It has a very campfire feel.
As they prepare for the last song, Barrick brings his drum mic up front. It takes a moment or two (no edits, Banks jokes). “Summer Love” has a drum machine and Barrick playing a very quiet synth. It, too is a pretty, quiet song with a delicate solo from Kaufman.
[READ: March 10, 2021] “Family Furnishings”
One of the great things about Alice Munro stories is the way she fully fleshes out the characters. In this story, the plot (such as it is) is one thing, but Munro adds in so much detail about the characters–details that give you a fuller picture of them, but which don’t really have an impact directly on the plot–that you feel like you are fully a part of this world. We learn that the narrator was married twice an we learn a bunch about her first and second husbands. None of this has any direct bearing on the story, but these details give you the most complete picture of the narrator and helps to flesh out the decisions she makes.
This is the story of a young woman who grows up to become a writer and how her father’s cousin had an unexpectedly big impact on that career trajectory.
When the narrator was little her father’s cousin Alfrida (Freddy) was a dramatic and dynamic person. She worked for the newspaper and was part of the collective of writers who contributed to “Flora Simpson Housewives’ Pages” (there was no Flora Simpson, just a photo of a woman). She also wrote the “Round and About Town” column which allowed her to give her opinion on all things local.
She was appropriately full of herself but she was always a delight to have around. The rest of her family was quite dull and formal and the narrator felt like Alfrida loosened everyone up. (more…)
