Tuesday, March 21, 2017

More Letters with Chris Bathgate about Audra Kubat's 'Mended Vessel'

This is a song called "Loving Arms" by Audra Kubat. It's the fourth track on Mended Vessel, which came out last last year. 

 This....is a continued correspondence, between myself here in Detroit and singer/songwriter Chris Bathgate, who's writing to us from the mountains of northern California. I have to reiterate how excited I am to be experiencing, along with you, the first actual album review penned by Bathgate. Likely the first of more to come...



Hey Chris
We had the 4th Annual Hamtramck Music Festival here recently... You remember the ol' Blowouts, yes? I have to say, coming from that explosion of live music, the avalanching-lineup of bands, to then sit down and write a letter to you, sir..., makes me feel a little wistful, so consider this a Wish You Were Here type of postcard, in letter form...

I think that the Track 4 position is crucial. Track 3's are usually singles. Track 1's are always powerful. Final tracks' are emotional, or, hopefully...conclusive. Track 4, as I've perceived it, is free to be a wildcard. It is the opening of Act II. The mannerisms are laid down, the aesthetic's veil has been drawn across the soundscape... The tone is set. We're listening to "Loving Arms," now...

Things pare back here. After the comparative energy of the first three, this one feels like the hush of entering a backroom, something the size of a cellar maybe, where a door shuts securely behind you shunting out any cacophony. It's Audra and her guitar, and she's being very honest with herself in front of you... This song, almost more than the first three, demonstrates what I consider to be the album's most winning quality: a fearlessness to be vulnerable. We've also talked about how this album's theme involves "searching..." be that externally or internally. In this song, she comes to a peace with the possibility, however scary, that she may not find the "place" she's been looking for... But why is she comforted in that confession? Because she's got this love that she's singing about...a love that takes her in her arms... 

Even then, after she returns to a state of questioning herself, all the while cognizant of the fact that a lingering dizzy of questions would mean the loss of some other opportunity... Maybe the opportunity at love? I want that opportunity. I want arms around me comforting me the way she sings it here... Similar to the way I want my own kind of "Sunday Kinda Love" when I hear Etta James sing it...

Also, what is that coming in at the end? An accordion? Talk about that, Chris, and what that sound, the way it feels like a gravelly kind of breath or sigh....what it adds to the final chorus!......

more later my friend
-jeff

"You know I have a pre-disposition for songs that develop over time, songs that move into fullness"


Hey Jeff, 

I do remember those ol’ Blowouts, I'm glad to hear you’re immersed in music.  Thanks for the sentiment of your post card wistfulness, the feeling is mutual.  I wish I could teleport back and forth. It’s been a super strange week up here on the mountain, we’ve gone from 6 inches of snow at 2,000 ft to 65 degrees and sunny.  The pile of firewood is currently lying fallow. 

On Loving Arms I see and feel this 2nd act as well.  The sparseness of this songs opening, the roomy tones of a far placed mic, and Audra’s potent and silky voice reinforce, for me, these thoughts you’ve shared about powerful vulnerableness. I hear in the first moments, in this purpohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCODcuOx978seful confession, lines delivered in a tone that makes me believe them to be truth. It makes me have to check myself.  I think that’s a thing I experience when I witness vulnerability, I have to look inward to see when and if I have the capacity for that bravery.  

I’m entranced by this songs soft build, which has to do with this accordion you’re wondering about…culminating in the feeling of being surrounded by the time the guitar slows to its gently windfall exit. 

You know I have a pre-disposition for songs that develop over time, songs that move into fullness. The ethereal gossamer wash rising up beneath Loving Arms gives me a “let go” feeling. Maybe its because I feel surrounded, wrapped even. The effect of this kind of arrangements is super enjoyable for me, it helps me integrate the song into my own life.  This song has that design. Like you’ve waxed, the stark small room of this songs opening is opened by a gossamer ethereal wash that rises out the corners in the 2nd verse. The entrance of the accordion at 2:03gives me goose bumps, and draws me deeper in to the atmosphere this song grows into. The song’s rounded summit drops just after the last chorus, the guitar slowing as it exits. 

Like a perfect breeze, just for moment, this fourth track on Mended Vessel is felt in its absence just as much as in its presence. 

-
Chris 

Listen to a live recording of this song from about five years ago, here 


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Hopefully you're still reading... 



Because I still have Audra Kubat-related news to share...
The Gaelic League Irish American Club of Detroit will host an event co-coordinated by Kubat to advance the Women’s March on Washington’s “10 Actions / 100 Days” campaign... 

On Wednesday, March 22, local musicians will come together to share songs of peace and protest. Attendees can not only enjoy the inspirational performances of the artists listed below, but they can take action: blank postcards, writing utensils, addresses, and example letters will be provided. The organizers ask guests to bring several stamps to share. There will be light snacks and a cash bar.  Click here for more info, and check out the lineup below. 


Protest/Postcard Show

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