Cassanova by Loretta Lucas - 12/28 - WAB (Ferndale) with Violets / Laura Finlay

I listened to Loretta Lucas' 2012 performance at the annual Dally in the Alley in midtown and, walking away from that in a subtle daze, the song that stuck with me the most, haunted me the most - turns out to be the flipside of her forthcoming single: "Cassanova."

The song of which I speak, though, with its enticing melodic swirl and strutting-Spectory-back-beat, is "Interim." And I employ the tired, cliched descriptor: "haunting," only because its Lucas' signature - something like purposefully tipping framed art crooked on the wall or bringing orchid flowers under the sinister glow of neon black light bulbs, the allure of making what would otherwise be a blend of folk and early 60's pop into something more, (again, a tired, cliched descriptor:) "gothic..." It's in the graceful use of minor keys, a bent or hollow sound from the acoustic string and the minimalist percussion, or in the way her vocals loft down like a beautiful ghost at the chorus of "Interim..."
"No one can own my soul...."



But again, that's the flipside. "Cassanova" will be the lead-off. This stout, brooding bass churns with the ever-more-distorted and ever-more insistent hits upon the drums while Lucas, double-tracked, harmonizes a duet with herself to a dazzling effect, with her breathy, fluttering incantation invoking "up and away..." Up, up and away...as though the vocal melody is trying to break free and fly away from the comparatively dark, dirgey sound of the rhythms below.

Jesse Shepherd-Bates (...of many projects and passions) directed a music video for "Cassanova," which should be online by the time of the release concert:

12/28 at the W.A.B. with Laura Finlay and Violets.
22646 Woodward Ave