Here’s the problem.
I’ve got boxes in which
my albums are stored
spines-out,
alphabetically by artist.
In addition,
I have what are called
“browser bins” up top,
where I file my newest
acquisitions, also
alphabetically, for easy,
flip-through access.
I have tried to be mindful
of not forgetting any
albums in the browser bins,
whether they be new
records by artists otherwise
represented, or new
artists whose other albums
are not already in my
collection. I was doing
okay with that, until now,
this morning, as I approach
my third installment of
entries about The Flaming
Lips, I flip
through the browser
bins and realize, oh no,
I forgot Exit North.
It is clear: we cannot
neglect or otherwise forget
Exit North.
Imagine Tom Waits without
the rasp, just as poetic, but
not at all funny, a good,
bass/baritone singer
with some real range and skill.
You’d get this Swedish English-
speaking chap, Thomas Feiner.
Imagine the drummer
and percussionist extraordinaire from
the 80’s New Romantic band Japan,
the drummer for and brother to
English genius David Sylvian,
two other multi-instrumentalists
covering keyboards, bass and guitar,
think ambient and chill, haunting,
spooky, and yet comforting, an
almost symphonic, meditative kind of rock
band, that every once in a while
explodes into something like heaviness,
but mostly gravitates toward this
progressive and dense kind of mellow,
and you will arrive at Exit North.
This super group is only two albums
and a couple of EP’s into their career,
all seasoned musicians already, still
making what is new and vital,
still, anyway, anyway, still.
I love this band.
Notes on the vinyl edition: Anyway, Still, Independently released, 2023, double black vinyl. Note on the note: despite the fact that this album was independently released, seemingly without any label or distribution support, I found this record at my neighborhood record store, Daily Records. How they got it, or how they thought to order it, seemingly just for me, remains a mystery. I am forever grateful. Would love to have the debut Exit North album, Book of Romance and Dust, on vinyl. You can download it, of course, but you can only get a CD version of it currently on Bandcamp. Better than nothing. Way better. It is also a great album.
In case you don’t already know: I’m listening to almost everything in my vinyl collection, A to Z, and writing at least one, sometimes two or three long skinny poem-like-things in response for each artist, and on a few occasions, writing a long skinny poem-like-thing in response to more than one artist. As a poet and a student of poetry, I understand that these things look like poems, but they don’t really sound much like poetry, hence, I call them “poem-like-things.” I’ll admit that they’re just long, skinny essays that veer every now and then into the poetic or lyric.
michael jarmer 