Supercrow – Captain EP
(2013, self-released)
Allow me to introduce to you Supercrow, a band fresh out of Portland, Oregon. I am about to dive into their new recording with you, but first, for you tl;dr types I should mention they are in town tonight, playing at the beautifully-restored Comet Tavern in the up-and-coming Capitol Hill neighborhood, not far from downtown Seattle.
Now then, Supercrow is a band founded by Christopher Benson (one of the growing roost of Seattle expats residing in Stumptown). Their forthcoming debut release, Captain EP, is due out June 28, but you can already listen along here (and a little Portland bird told me you might be able to score a real copy at tonight’s show).
Captain EP was produced, engineered, and mastered by Benson along with Timothy Harmon and Steve Harmon. Analog tape was lovingly involved, and it is a warm and inviting, living-breathing listen. The five tunes are Benson originals, and he plays most of the parts himself. I was delighted to find that the ever-amazing Jen Wood contributes backing vocals to four of them. (Also in the mix are Seth Warren with a couple key fiddle parts, and on “Captain Song,” Tim Harmon and Pamer Avery with mellotron and vocals, respectively.)
“Enough for Me” starts straight off with a crisp stew of drums, bass, piano, acoustic strum, gentle jingly-jangle, B-3-cum-Leslie-style organ, and threaded through it velvety-toned pedal steel-esque slide guitar swells (or maybe it is pedal steel? The liner notes, too modestly, don’t credit the instruments Benson plays, so I’m doing my best here). The instrumental veggies make way for Benson’s meaty vocals (with just enough Jen Wood an octave away). The lyrics reveal a classic gleefully bittersweet love song. (“Got no food/ Got no fridge/ Got no life insurance for my kids/ … But I got you/ And that’s enough for me.”) The voice is humble, understated, with a healthy serving of the compelling intimacy you might associate with Leonard Cohen. Perhaps a little Jeff Tweedy. Even a touch of Randy Newman (in the least annoying way possible, sorry Randy). I’m also reminded a bit of fellow Portlander Morgan Geer of Drunken Prayer, for example, (whom I promise to write about very soon, by the way), particularly in the more exposed-though-atmospheric “Carry.”
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“Time and Money” is a beautiful up-beat bummer, in the manner of Sera Cahoone at her best (cf. Cahoone’s “Runnin’ Your Way”). The track shares a similar driving lilt as well, though with more sonic grit and color. “Even though your dad never had anything to say to you/ All in all I think you’re doing alright now.”
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Perhaps my favorite is the last track, “Willow.” I am in awe of Benson’s electric guitar tone and playing, and he lets it off-leash a little more here. A simple vocal melody (again with Wood’s bread ‘n’ butter octave unison) gently repeats over tasty chord changes, floating in ocean-boat-rocking rhythm, drowning in magnificent sheets of guitar. The tail end feels ready (and welcome) to go on for hours, but Benson limits it to a few seconds. Which kinda hurts. Feels like a betrayal. (But then I figured out you can play it again! Wreckurds are sure amazing, ain’t they now.)
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You may notice I have left genre considerations until the end. I suppose we will need to go with americana, alt country, indie folk, and such. I would hesitate to give this EP to Indie Rooney for his birthday (man he’s old, he’s gotta be like 37 or something?). However, I get the distinct feeling that the ‘genre region’ in Benson’s case is incidental, no calculated triangulation. Supercrow is cooking up honest music honestly, genre-tag secondary. That is the sort of music I like to listen to, regardless of style.
Lastly, I’ll tell you I saw Supercrow perform at the High Dive recently and they have assembled into a very agreeable live band. Doing the music justice. So do catch them at the Comet tonight. Oh, and ‘like’ them here if you’re the sort who books faces.