SOUNDTRACK: ANOTHER SKY-Tiny Desk Concert #942 (February 5, 2020).
I have watched this video many times because I love everything about this band. I love the unexpectedly intricate guitar, the adventurous bass and complex rhythms, and I love singer Catrin Vincent’s voice.
Drummer Max Doohan open “Brave Face” with really fast hi-hats. Some very high bass notes (from Naomi Le Dune) and a smooth, slinky guitar (Jack Gilbert) makes the melody as Katrin sings in her unique, deep and clearly accented voice.
After a verse or so, Katrin plays a piano chord while the guitar opens a clean catchy melody. The song stops musically for a moment before it kicks back in with some rocking guitars and fast drums. Despite the rhythmic changes, all the while her vocal style remains unchanged–a great contrast.
There’s so much dynamism in this song. It builds and builds to a dramatic ending.
There’s intensity and clear intention to the music of Another Sky. I knew that from having seen this London band perform at SXSW. But in the confines of an office, hearing Catrin Vincent’s unique voice, raw and un-amplified, brought it to another level. They came to NPR back in December to perform, opening their Tiny Desk set with a new song, released just this week. “Brave Face” is a window into the uncompromising sound and message of Another Sky, as Catrin sings in her impassioned voice:
“You must put yourself first
believe you will be loved
only you can demand all you deserve
You put on your brave face, now girl.”This isn’t a message that is easy to punctuate with music, but matching message with music is the strength of Another Sky. You can hear it in the way Jack Gilbert weaves his guitar lines around the haunting vocals, the way the rhythm section sets up a tension with the melody.
“Avalanche” “another song that deals with toxic masculinity, there’s such ferocity, such commitment to the message.” It opens with guitar harmonics and Katrin singing along on a slow piano melody. A complex bass line adds some lower notes to the song which teases quiet moments before getting loud again with a nifty guitar solo. The song once again gets huge before the music cuts out for just some piano and voice.
Before the final song,
Catrin brought some levity in the form of thanks. “I used to work in an infamous thrift shop in London,” she said, “that paid me to sit and watch NPR Tiny Desks on loop, and I used to think, ‘Oh we’ll never get here,’ and we did, so thank you.”
“All Ends” opens with a quiet introduction and more great guitar work. Once again I love the bass work–chords played at the high end of the neck, along with ringing guitars and Katrin’s voice.
This band is so interesting, I can’t wait to hear more from them.
[READ: February 10, 2020] 5 Worlds Book 2
The story is magical and fairly complicated with a lot of parts. But the crux is the dire situation on the five worlds. Moon Yatta is a desert; Salassandra’s animals are all dying; Grimbo(e) is covered in ocean moss and there are water riots on Toki, where the plant people are dying. The Mon Domani Elder says that they need to light the beacons on the roof. The other leaders are less convinced of the need for beacons and some are hostile to the idea.
Behind all of the trouble is a creature known as The Mimic–a super nasty fellow that is able to possess people.
At the end of book one our hero, Oona Lee and her friends An Tzu and Jax Amboy were able to light the first beacon. Lighting the beacon made it rain on Mon Domani for the first time in years.
This book opens with a flashback. In book one we knew of Oona’s sister, and how she fled just before it was her time to light the beacons. By the end of the book we saw that she was actively trying to prevent Oona from lighting the beacon.
Master Elon pulls aside a young Jessa Lee and tells her about the Mimic–he is not a legend, he is real and a real threat. He tells her that the Cobalt Prince wants to destroy the Mimic and only a great sand dancer (and Jessa is the best) can defeat the Mimic. But just before the lighting is to commence, Elon tells her the true consequence of lighting the beacons (which we don’t hear). (more…)
I Just Read About That... 