Nick Shoulders — “Dixie Be Damned”
On Halloween, Fayetteville folkster and Gar Hole Records co-founder Nick Shoulders will drop his fifth album, “Refugia Blues,” a collection of songs he likened to Bruce Springsteen’s stripped-back “Nebraska” in a recent interview with Holler. “Some people listen to Bruce for the E Street Band and the big radio hits, but I like the intimacy and rawness of ‘Nebraska’ instead,” he said. “I’d like to think of ‘Refugia Blues’ as a little window into the heart, as opposed to the drumbeat of a revolution.” Ahead of the release, Shoulders has shared two tracks: the a cappella “Apocalypse Never,” which came out last year, and “Dixie Be Damned,” which came out on Wednesday.
The new song, like much of Shoulders’ work, overtly critiques those in power and encourages solidarity among the oppressed: “They told you ya built the levee / And you’ve gotta keep the water out too / How much do you have in common with thems that direct you? / Country clubs and plantations just won’t do / Dixie be damned: I believe in you.” It’s a sentiment that’s hard to disagree with (and Shoulders’ voice and whistling are as captivatingly mellifluous as ever), but it feels like well-trodden territory at this point. Here’s hoping that the rest of the “Refugia Blues” — which “balances the macro with the micro, too, making room for love songs and personal topics” according to Holler — will show as much as it tells. You can pre-order the album on vinyl, cassette and CD here.
Adam Faucett — “Carry Me Down the Hill”
Given just how largely Adam Faucett looms in the Central Arkansas music scene, it’s hard to believe that — before this spring — he hadn’t put out any new recorded music in 7 years. That long break ended in May, when the Little Rock singer-songwriter started teasing songs from his fifth record, “New Variations of The Reaper,” which comes out Sept. 19. His latest single, “Carry Me Down the Hill,” is a spare piano ballad streaked with haunting imagery. “If you are who you said you were / You won’t mind this is all a blur, smudged in rusty blood,” he sings, his voice like a gently glowing ember in a weakening fire. “I promise it’s a love song,” Faucett wrote on Facebook when the tune dropped last week.
Modeling — “At Variance”
Modeling — a Fayetteville-based synth-rock band consisting of brothers Connor, Cuinn and Ryan Brogan — makes music that sounds intensely labored over. We don’t write songs; we craft soundscapes, you might imagine them saying. It’s been three years since the release of their debut album, “Somewhere Before,” and I can almost picture the trio spending that whole period of time tinkering solely with “At Variance,” a decadently textured single that will appear on their forthcoming EP. Immaculate attention to detail aside, “At Variance” shows signs of something new for the band. If you listen closely at 1:29, you’ll hear Modeling’s typically vocoder-heavy vocals turn strained and desperate. It’s a wonderful flicker of humanity amid meticulous construction.
Piecemeal Pact — “Me and Mine”
There’s something about the way Little Rock singer-songwriter Kennedy Valley — known on stage as Piecemeal Pact — plays acoustic guitar. Percussive yet fluttery, steady yet wandering, their picking and fingering style is almost as interesting as their voice, which brings to mind the smoky depth of Nina Simone. A regular performer in Central Arkansas for a few years now, “Me and Mine” is Valley’s first official single and an exciting indicator of things to come.
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