SOUNDTRACK: SAN FERMIN-Tiny Desk Concert #315 (October 28, 2013).
When I first heard San Fermin I was immediately grabbed by the female lead voice (the song was “Sonsick”). It was so powerful and gripping. I didn’t realize then that the female leads were the lead singers of Lucius (who I also didn’t know at the time). San Fermin is the creation of Ellis Ludwig-Leone.
Since then I have enjoyed other songs by them as well, although I find that the songs sung by Allen Tate to be somewhat less exciting to me– I feel like his voice could one day hit me as amazing but it’s almost a little to understated for me. And yet musically I love the orchestration and chamber poppiness. As Bob writes:
San Fermin’s music bursts with ambition, talent and extreme joy. Its self-titled debut is charged with great storytelling and amazing vocals by both Allen Tate and Lucius singers Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe. Then there are the arrangements: little gems that turn these songs into cinematic vignettes using trumpet, sax, keyboard, violin, guitar and drums.
San Fermin is the musical vision of Ellis Ludwig-Leone, who wrote these songs with Tate’s dark, rich voice in mind. Here at the Tiny Desk, Rae Cassidy makes the album’s female vocal parts her own.
So it’s interesting that the songs were meant for Tate. I want just some more oomph from him. especially here in this set. And that’s because Rae Cassidy absolutely rules this set.
“Oh Darling” begins with a gentle piano and Cassidy’s pretty, delicate voice. After a verse from her, Tate’s voice comes in and it’s almost comically low and formal (and actually perhaps a bit too quiet). But when they all come in and sing it is just beautiful–the women in particular.
For “Sonsick” Cassidy sings lead with just drums. As the song builds there’s a great chorus where the backing vocals (including Tate) sing in falsetto. This version is quite stripped down compared to the recorded version and it really allows Cassidy’s voice to shine. When she hits those incredibly high notes with such power, it gives me chills.
In the final song, “Renaissance!” Tate sings lead over a slow piano and violin. The women sing backing vocals. I like the way that the song builds in intensity with more instruments, but his voice is a little too flat for me–although he does kick in extra at the end.
There’s a really stunning version of the first two songs with the band singing live in a street and cafe and France.
Incidentally, Cassidy has since left the band and gone solo, and I wish her much success.
[READ: December 28, 2016] Humans of New York Stories
Sarah got me this book for Christmas. I knew of Humans of New York, of course, but I wasn’t a follower of it. So while I knew of it I didn’t really know that much about it.
There’s a brief introduction to this book (which is his second HONY book) in which he explains that HONY grew from five years of experimenting. It evolved from a photography blog to a storytelling blog. His original inspiration was to photograph 10,000 New Yorkers. But then he decided to start including quotes from some of them.
He started interviewing people and found their stories became the real heart of the blog. Of course, he thanks the community of readers and participants, because without them, he has nothing.
The rest of the book–425 pages–collects the photos and the stories. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 