SOUNDTRACK: INDIGO SPARKE-Tiny Desk Concert #951 (February 26, 2020).
I was sure that I had heard of Indigo Sparke before–in some kind of NPR context. But I can’t find any evidence of that.
The only thing I can figure is that I must have listened to this Tiny Desk Concert when it was first published, because I remembered her telling the story about driving a car (before the second song).
Indigo Sparke is an Australian singer-songwriter. She sings quietly and plays an electric guitar almost without amplification (aside from occasionally loud drone sounds). Bob says,
I asked everyone to gather a little closer than usual around my desk for this one.
“Colourblind” starts the set off as she quietly strums and sings.
Up next is “the day i drove the car around the block.” She introduces the song by telling about
trying to learn how to drive on the other side of the road while in Los Angeles, with a huge vehicle and a stick shift.
After that introduction, you might think the song was amusing. But it is not
It is a tale of defeat and solace:
“Take off all my clothes, kiss me where the bruises are,” …
“Love is the drug, and you are in my blood now.”
Sparke sings a little too slowly for my liking–the kind of stretched out vocals that make it hard for me to follow the thread of the song (or maybe that you need a few listens to fully appreciate).
Before the final song, she invites her partner, Adrianne Lenker of Big Thief up to play guitar with her. She tells us that the song is so new it has no title–if you think of one while she’s playing it, let Bob know. It has since been named “Burn.”
Lenker’s addition of chords (and lovely harmonics) add a nice extra layer to the song.
[READ: March 21, 2020] Paradox Girl: First Cycle
Who doesn’t love a story that begins: “Do you know what happens when you violate causality?”
Paradox Girl is a time-traveler who has changed her past so many times she doesn’t know what he truth is. She also lives with about a hundred copies of herself.
Her partner in crime-fighting is Axiom Man.
This book had so much that I love in a superhero story–strong female characters, wild humor and all kinds of time-travel paradoxes. It even had fantastic artwork from Yishan Li–I love the light purple lines that indicate some time travel magic.
But I guess I learned that this is something of a one-note premise. Which means that most of the stories are variants on the one idea that she can appear anywhere at anytime and that her other selves will be there as well.
Often this works pretty well, but I guess reading six comics in a row gets a bit samey. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 