Artist: Songdog
Album: The Time Of Summer Lightning
Bitrate: 165kbps avg
Label: One Little Indian
Genre: Indie
Size: 87 megs
Playtime: 1h 10min 19sec total
Rip date: 2005-06-29
Store date: 2005-06-27
Track List:
--------
01. One Day When God Begs My 4:18
Forgiveness
02. The Republic Of Howlin' Wolf 8:51
03. Childhood Skies 4:34
04. Fairytale 7:52
05. Jinetera 4:31
06. Janie Jones 3:39
07. My Space-Rock Tape 5:53
08. Jerusalem Road 6:15
09. The Waitress From Yorkville, 4:14
Toronto
10. The Time Of Summer Lightning 6:17
11. The Was So Blue It Was Scary 4:39
12. Souvenir 9:16
Release Notes:
--------
Hushed, candlelit punk rock. ôWaiting For Godotö sung to a three-chord trick.
Songdog are really all about the songs. Dark, literate songs sung from the
prison-cell of the heart (from where you can sometimes see just as far as from
the top of any mountain).
Their third album ôThe Time Of Summer Lightningö is due early summer 2005 on One
Little Indian Records.
ôAnd so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the
pastö - the closing lines of Scott FitzgeraldÆs æThe Great GatsbyÆ nail the
brooding heart of this record perfectly, a dark and poignant collection of songs
about dreams gone wrong, loves left behind, new lusts and old obsessions. Loss
and Time Past haunt this beautiful album like muffled footfalls in an empty old
house.
THE BAND:
The band consists of Lyndon Morgans (vocals, acoustic guitar and songs), Karl
Woodward (electric guitars, mandolin, banjo, harmonica, keyboards) and Dave
Paterson (drums, keyboards, percussion). Lyndon and Karl are from Blackwood in
South Wales, Dave from Dundee. They met up in London and self-released SongdogÆs
debut album ôThe Way Of The Worldö in 2001, followed by ôHaikuö in 2003 on
Evangeline Records.
INFLUENCES:
Lyndon reveres Leonard Cohen, James Joyce, Joni Mitchell, Samuel Beckett, Tom
Waits, Marcel Proust, Bob Dylan and Emile Cioran best. (Plus Roy Orbison and
Franz Kafka, the Beatles and Baudelaire).
He doesnÆt really like to hang out, but if these people were to book a coach and
ask him along for a summer-afternoonÆs chilling in the hills heÆd definitely go,
because theyÆre the people he grew up reading and listening to, his role-models
if you like. (Some of them heÆs seen live, some of them heÆs just visited the
graves of. And he taught himself French so he could read some of them in their
own language).
For Lyndon, if itÆs not about poetry (the shorthand of the heart) and great
tunes itÆs probably just a career move. Sure, poetry can encompass anything from
ôThe Waste Landö to ôLong Tall Sallyö but just so long as itÆs there! In earlier
bands Lyndon used to yelp his stuff in front of Marshall-stacks and big fuck-off
bass-bins, but with Songdog he changed tack and sold his gold-top Les Paul for a
Martin. So thereÆs as much attitude in his songs as ever, only now itÆs murmured
sotto voce.
A NEAT MERCHANDISING ANGLE:
æSex, Drugs, Rock nÆ Roll and ArtÆ might be a good slogan for a Songdog T-shirt.
When rock nÆ roll pretends to disdain art, thatÆs just its inferiority complex
showing, says Lyndon. Art-schools have been the cradle for all the most
important British rock music, so we should just quit acting dumb and embrace the
æAÆ word. (æAÆ is for Animal Rights too. æThe way we exploit animals is just à..
heartbreakingÆ).
ALL THE WORLDÆS A STAGE:?
Before Songdog, Lyndon wrote plays and won the Verity Bargate award for one
called ôWater Musicö. He found the theatre world a bit of a snake-pit, all farty
and no arty. Only times he ever goes now is for Howard Barker plays or Robert
Wilson extravaganzas.
THE PLAYERS:
Karl paints, went to St MartinÆs for a while. You can check out some of his
stuff at the æPodlean GalleryÆ page of the bandÆs website. HeÆd probably pretty
much praise all the same names as Lyndon, but Neil Young would have to feature
somewhere very near the top-end of the list. Dave went to music college and
understands jazz. A photographer thinking of taking up an instrument once asked
Dave what a key was and the explanation took twenty minutes and the snapper just
stuck with photography.
WHAT THE PAPERS SAY:
"à dislocated, defiant and erotic songs that echo [their] principal influences -
Brel, the Beat poets, Dylan, Leonard Cohen - without compromising the often
startling originality of [their] own vision." - Uncut
"..daring, sometimes magical..." Mojo (on Haiku)
"...supremely accomplished work..." Time Out (on Haiku)