Line Out Music & the City at Night

Slog

News & Arts

@SEAshows
Twitter feed of Seattle shows on sale now

« Here's a NEW Postal Service Song | Progressive Viking Metal?! »

Monday, February 11, 2013

Song / Upcoming Julian Lynch's Lovely "Carios kelleyi I"

Posted by Kathy Fennessy on Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 10:58 AM

Underwater Peoples Records
Photo by Jacqueline Kursel

I can't speak for anyone else—as tempted as I am by the impulse—but I've been swimming in new music for the past couple of months. Maybe drowning would be a better word, since it's been difficult to keep up with it all, so it helps if there's something about a release that stands out.

It could be anything, really, like the band name, the album title, or the cover art; just something that catches my attention, in which case I'll prioritize that song or record over the others that arrived around the same time.

So it goes with Julian Lynch. Neither his name nor his face looked familiar, but the B&W promo photo—with inquisitive tabby—caught my eye, so I listened to "Carios kelleyi I"...and I liked what I found. Does Lynch, who's been releasing home recordings for five years, play all of the instruments pictured above? I couldn't say, but the track features a lyrical guitar line, a gossamer vocal, and a clunky drum sound that recalls Scout Niblett and other D.I.Y. types. (After listening to 2011's "Terra," I've determined that he plays woodwinds, too.) It's an intriguing mix of the sophisticated and the primitive, which befits his alter ego as a doctoral candidate in anthropology and ethnomusicology at the University of Wisconsin.

The more I listen to the thing, the more I'm getting a strong Cornelius vibe.