stream: SF’s Or, The Whale Prep Debut
Light Poles and Pines, the debut album from San Francisco’s peculiarly punctuated roots-music collective Or, the Whale (for clarity in speaking, try saying “Or, Comma, the Whale”) will be released by Seany Records in January 2009. Early PR is promising a record sometimes epic (”Life and Death at Sea,” given its title, had better deliver), sometimes reflective (”Rope Don’t Break”), sometimes both (”Fight Song”).
The lead single, “Call and Response,” is a rocking country shuffle that joins two great lyrical traditions at once. It’s both a protest song and a ghost story, sung by the outraged spirit of Hurricane Katrina’s drowned—who, to slake their thirst for vengeance, are “headed back to New Orleans” to haunt the place (“And all our lives were lost in vain / Now they’ve got more to fear than a hurricane”). Heckuva job.
stream: Or, The Whale - “Call and Response”
from Light Poles and Pines
A Tour:
01-16 The Independent - San Francisco, CA
Tracklisting:
01 Call and Response
02 Saint Bernard
03 Threads
04 Isn’t She Awful
05 Death of Me
06 Crack a Smile
07 Fixin’ to Leave
08 Rope Don’t Break
09 Life and Death at Sea
10 Gonna Have To
11 Bound to Go Home
12 Prayer for the Road
13 Fight Song
