Okay guys. So. Next week my band Pretty Swans’ first album comes out. It is basically the most effort I have ever put into any creative project I have ever done. I started writing these songs in late 2009, and yeah I know some of you are still working on things you started when you were sixteen, but that’s a long time to be working on the same thing for me.
Apparently, I have this really strong desire for people to hear it. I don’t know. I guess it’s for some sort of validation or something. Whatever.
Anyway, if you want to hear it, you can buy mp3s from amazon or itunes or get the CD through mailorder from pattern hungry records (http://patternhungryrecords.com/phr25.html). It costs $5 for the CD. I’m not sure how much it costs from amazon or itunes, I tried to make it as cheap as I could. If you can’t afford it from those places send me a message and we can work something out. I just want people to hear it
Though I’m 25-30 years older, and of a different generation than Russ (februaryy), we grew up on the same streets, in the same tenement buildings. We were both orphans. We both had to work from infancy in order to feed ourselves, and perhaps a cartoonish pet animal, and we both ended up working for infamous, crooked, underworld-connected caterer Grills Murdoch.
When I first heard his music, I thought, ‘I can hear the sweat-stained bow tie from his waiter’s uniform grazing the mic. I can feel the emotions of a young man attempting to throw off the shackles of poverty and Grills’ warped hand. I can sense his feet being held to the butane burners both literally and metaphorically.’ I was impressed.
That was, of course, years ago. Grills has long since died, stabbed to death with forks by his collective wait staff. The streets where I grew up are a distant sense memory, something I smell, or feel unconsciously as my driver brings me past a bus stop, or I linger in front of a dry cleaners during my walks at dusk. Russ’ music has changed, and evolved. His bow tie has become a bolo. His dreams have become reality.
I really like this album. I’ve been listening to it a lot. I’m pretty certain it’s my favorite album of Russ’ I’ve heard. I am still impressed. And importantly, I think other people, even those from less Dickensian beginnings, would enjoy it.
