Saturday, December 30th, 2006
Wintering In Brooklyn
I’ve been trying to remember who, where or how I first heard the name, “The Last Town Chorus” – it may have been a blog, or more likely a forum or mailing list. But whatever the source, I know they’re a band that I’ve been pointed to at least a few times in the past and liked what I’ve heard, but for whatever reason didn’t pursue further.
Centred around Megan Hickey’s achingly plaintive voice and mournful lap steel, The Last Town Chorus trades in sad, slow-burn country vibes with enough spaciness to achieve low orbit. Their 2003 self-titled debut was based around a duo configuration and was appropriately austere and a bit static in mood (guess which one) but their new one Wire Waltz, released this year in the UK and out in March in North America, features a fuller band and more dynamic songwriting. It’ll still make you cry in your beer, but your toe might tap a bit at the same time. There’s a couple full tracks from the first album available from the band and you can sample fairly large excerpts of the whole of the new record on their website.
The Last Town Chorus are going to be in town January 23 for a free show at the Horseshoe, along with fellow Brooklynites The Films, Stars offshoot Young Galaxy and Don Vail, new project of former Treble Charger and sometime BSS-er Bill Priddle.
And if you’ve heard of Last Town Chorus, tell me where you found out about them. This is gonna bug me.
MP3: The Last Town Chorus – “Change Your Mind”
MP3: The Last Town Chorus – “Oregon”
MySpace: The Last Town Chorus
And also just announced, making up for last Fall’s cancelled show – Sunset Rubdown and Xiu Xiu at Lee’s Palace on April 12, tickets $13.
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12/30/06 1:17 pm
i think i heard of last town chorus via the now defunct "comes with a smile" magazine… they had them on a handful of the cd compilations and did a split cd with them, james william hindle & aaron stout.
12/30/06 5:35 pm
It might have been me that was telling you about them. They played SXSW 2005 and when I went through the gigantic MP3 download, they were one of my top picks from the heap.
12/30/06 11:39 pm
So what’s the final word on that Xiu Xiu/Shearwater thing?
12/31/06 12:20 am
Calum – no idea, though the Shearwater dates are late March/early April so it’s conceivable that Xiu Xiu plays with them on those and then hops over to Sunset Rubdown.
I’m sure it’ll all make some kind of sense when the tours are officially announced.
1/1/07 12:51 pm
Xiu Xiu seems to be on tour perpetually anyway, so that wouldn’t be too unlikely. We shall see, I suppose.
Happy New Year, also.
1/2/07 12:52 pm
last town chorus do a lovely cover of david bowie’s modern love – it got a bit of airplay on xfm in december
1/9/07 3:22 pm
this band is so good!
1/28/07 7:58 am
Heard it on WPFK 91.9 LouKY