A Sunny Day in Glasgow "No. 6 Von Karman Street"

A Sunny Day in Glasgow is Ben Daniels’ musical project, and one for which he enlisted his two sisters, Robin and Lauren, to sing. And like any good brother, he’s done the aural equivalent of throwing several blankets over his siblings, forcing them to howl their way out (which they secretly love). Daniels (and compatriot Ever Nalens, both of whom have, in the interest of full disclosure, contributed to this site before) doesn’t make music in the traditional sense, mind you. Instead, he layers soft sounds on one another, over and over and over and over, like a cloudmason. When he sent me his first EP (after I’d written this), he included a polite note to Please Listen To This Music Through Headphones Please, and with good reason. There is more subtle texture and nuance within a typical ASDiG song than on most full-length albums, and the songs beg repeated, close listens. But despite its occasional thickness, there remains a profound element of play at work on Scribble Mural, which of course makes it all the more engaging. Like on “No. 6 Von Karman Street” (mp3), for instance, one of the more potent songs on an album that continually (and often with eerie perfection) evokes the fallibility and inherent fogginess of memory. Beneath a rhythm that suggests a partially remembered, slow-motion dance party heard from two houses down a decade ago, Lauren and Robin push through the haze, singing along and creating their own scene in their living room. Their unique and assured timbres, however, are what really make the song move; like Kate Bush singing “Running Up That Hill,” but, you know, from the bottom of a well.

Pre-order Scribble Mural Comic Journal from Notenuf Records here.

ELSEWHIRR: There’s a thing at Stylus today with my name on it.

FROM THE SPORTS DESK: Slowly….unclenching…fists…YES.

FROM THE BORING DRUGGY MYSTIQUE DEPARTMENT: Um, both Shaun Ryder and Roky Erickson at this year’s Coachella? Indio-area CVS stores would do well to start stocking up on the Dristan.

FROM THE WHY DON’T I LINK TO THIS GUY FILE: 20 Jazz Funk Greats gives a moment of consideration to Panda Bear’s Person Pitch–certainly one of yours truly’s most favoritest unreleased records of the year. If you like today’s song, go over there and murder dude’s bandwidth.