John Lindenbaum
The Christmas Day EP
( diy or else...
) 2006 [secret]
"We
do terrible things to heroes / we pay 'em well to die young and free"
 Some
people were born to work on a farm. Some people wish they were never
born. Other people long for a life they may never have. John
Lindenbaum (Rust Belt Music, the
Lonelyhearts) was born to speak through my stereo speakers, further
defining my own personal faith - faith in songwriters, faith in dreams,
faith in doing what you love. At best, this is how I feel about
the whole scheme of things gathered on The Christmas Day EP.
I
personally don't know if John's father built ships in Richmond for the
war ("t-shirts") [this just in: he did
not], only to lose this job forcing the family to relocate for
a lesser developed area ("where the rent was cheaper"),
but Lindenbaum - alone with guitar and a tracked backing 'chant' - is
so convincing in his delivery I feel as though I lived the situation
myself. Another stunner (there are 8 in all here - the full EP) is "the
good news", where John traces
the distant friendship of 2 would-be (could-be) lovers over
many years of passing:
"I
know it sounds false but I've been in love with you since I was fifteen
years old
And I only found out recently."
It will take more than one full listen to catch much of what
John has placed on here, for your mind will bend with how one man can
take such bare instrumentation and inject each songs with such cleverness,
wit and imagery. On "I'm gonna tell it like a murder mystery",
he recalls finding the local preacher drunk in the church van and all
he could mumble was "summer in the city". See - I've
ruined what is an absolutely perfect example of what Lindenbaum does
best - I'm a dick. You'd be best to listen - and listen well and in
multiples (the stripped version of "Ntozake
Nelson" should sit you on your ass), for this guy is certainly
blessed and I can't be more excited to know that John is doing exactly
what he was put on the fragile green fields of Earth to do.
Limited to a numbered set of 50
in hand-stitched casing with 3-color print - "it" rarely gets
any better than this. Stick my mentally ill shell on a desert island
with John's collection of holiday EP's (this makes the seventh, I believe)
whenever you feel like it - I will survive.
Big
up to MC Billy
Ocean - we are a loathsome breed.
k
:: ( 02.16.2006
)
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