RecommNeds | Tom Brosseau & Elvis Perkins

Words By: Aaron “Neddy” Stein

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April Folk Day

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Tom Brosseau: Perfect Abandon

Every folk singer, in one way or another, seems destined to try and capture the spirit of folk singers of the mythical bygone era: Seeger, Dylan, Guthrie, all the way down. On his new album, Perfect Abandon, Tom Brosseau pulls off this magic act as well as you could hope. The North Dakota native opens with a story, autobiographical, we have to assume, about being left in a department story by his mother when he was a child, making him the “Hard Luck Boy” of the song. It was the perfect abandon, I guess, and with his folk cred in hand, he spins sparse and beautiful folk ballads, braiding his Seeger/Dylan/Guthrie sound into his own mythical legend. The album was recorded in the UK in mono, with a small band and has a warm-but-cold sound and feel, that completes the mood perfectly.

Rdio: http://www.rdio.com/artist/T om_Brosseau/album/Perfect_Abandon/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1R XQozpFVCMeZnoH4I0GlW

Rhapsody: http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/tom-brosseau/album/perfect-abandon

Bandcamp: https://tinangelrecords.bandcamp.com/album/perfect-abandon

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Elvis Perkins: I Aubade

It’s tough not to take it personally when a beloved musician seemingly disappears. Are they gone for good or what? Like the rest of his fans, I’ve been waiting for the return of Elvis Perkins for a while, so it was with some excitement that I listened to his first album in 6 years: I Aubade. Like an expertly slow-cooked piece of brisket, the album is a tender meal with some interesting spices and an array of flavors. Perkins’ folk is a unique, occasionally weird, but intensely personal one. I Aubade is a record that invites deep listening, that reveals its secrets not from song to song, but over the course of the entire album. Given the chance, there is much magic to discover within. One of my favorites of the year thus far, it’s good to have Elvis back in the building.

Rdio: http://www.rdio.com/artist/Elvis_Perki ns/album/I_Aubade/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7p3Q lFcWPE50ihij4nC6e7

Rhapsody: http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/elvis-perkins/album/i-aubade