Finch, the new album from Andy Baxter and Kyle Jahnke contains the latest sensational vocal harmonies and eloquent phrases that embody Penny & Sparrow.
I am sure now that Penny & Sparrow have captured some mythical creature in a magic bottle cast in the hue of a blood orange. They have subsequently popped the cork and released this puissant bewitchery upon their music. Seriously though, this album is just really good.
The album’s first single Eloise may still be my favorite track; the songwriting and lyrics are unlike any other songwriters I can think of. “….chin up were young and in the dark, we saw them resurrecting a muscle car…” It’s the simple phrases that are so poetic. It was also pretty cool to hear the words “muscle car” and “gunfighter” on the same track. This imagery has completely triggered so many boyhood loves I have ever had. It helps that my childhood is marked by the desire to fight and go fast.
However, the real joy is in the emotional connections littered throughout the lyrics on so many tracks. Obviously, I love the invitation to be a gunfighter; this feels like a call to become someone new. Someone, that is dangerously similar to this vintage imagery of the past, yet however new, found within this is a comfortable scene eloquently painted by the songwriters. Wrap yourself in the knit afghan that is Stockholm, speaking so comfortably over the concept of growing into the new directions life can take you on. Each song on the album is worthwhile for any band to cover, and I am continually pushing my own perspective at each listen. Isn’t that what good music does?
Anyway, it’s okay, I’m sanguine
Stockholm, by Penny and Sparrow
No matter what y’all can say, I’m changing
How about you ‘fess up, get moving?
You are not less in love for losing
Do you feel good? Do you feel it?
My skin crawls under y’all’s grip
Ain’t it checking out time at the Motorado?
Are they making exceptions?
I just woke
Oh well
The playfulness that Andy Baxter (vocalist) and Kyle Jahnke (guitar & vocals) share is shown in all of their interactions to the media and across the sometimes ridiculous social media teasers and promotional campaigns. Best friends since college, the two create masterful melodies and write truly inspired poetry. The honesty and camaraderie they display is such an obvious testament that they have found a key in how to keep the realities in check.
With the support of Thirty Tigers who have famously been marketing and promoting acts like, Josh Ritter, Son Volt, Lucinda Williams and Patty Griffin, the duo has seemed to launch a more successful chapter in their 15-year career. This album seems to be carrying much more notoriety and publicity that all others combined. With stellar reviews from all sources…
- Feature: Penny and Sparrow Explore Evolution in Masterpiece ‘Fi
- Music Review: ‘Finch’ from Penny & Sparrow is a gem – APNews
- REVIEW: Penny and Sparrow’s “Finch” is Pretty in a Way That Makes …
- Penny and Sparrow: Finch (album review) – PopMatters
- Harmonies Near and Far Fly Through Penny & Sparrow’s ‘Finch’
Hearing the reviews and seeing the comradery from Andy and Kyle has me crushing on this band like a dreamy-eyed mid 80’s school girl looking longingly at the school bad boy peeling out of the blockbuster parking lot in his cherry Old’s Cutless… yep, that hard. It seems like they really found something beautiful in song, it’s simple, it’s emotional, it’s tangible. I appreciate their sensibilities, noted by this reviewer…
A religious thread runs through Penny & Sparrow’s work, but its music is Christian in the same way that Marilynne Robinson’s novels are Christian: deeply personal, sometimes heretical, bent on finding grace in surprising places.
Ann Powers
Critic and Correspondent, NPR Music
This album takes a new look into the life, living and the not so simple answers to maybe some of the presumed responses to life’s questions. This sounds like maturation and growth that living connected lives create. Learning from others and being humble enough to hear and see that there is more than you may have first thought.
When you meet people you get skin in the game. And when you get skin in the game your give a damn meter goes up.
Andy Baxter, https://youtu.be/VTBKqBKSV5g
I currently have this album on repeat, and honestly I’m looking forward to hitting up as many shows as I can possibly attend this summer and over the fall.
~jonahholliday
