Three New Albums to Listen to This Fall
Fresh incarnations and new albums for three beloved Seattle musicians
By Seattle Mag October 23, 2014
This article originally appeared in the October 2014 issue of Seattle magazine.
If you’ve been following the career of David Bazan (center of main photo above) you know he moved from lead singer and songwriter for indie-darling band Pedro the Lion to existential crisis to creating acclaimed solo work. For his newest album, David Bazan + Passenger String Quartet, he bonded with Seattle’s most sought-after experimental neoclassical backing band, led by Andrew Joslyn. Bazan’s beautiful voice recalls Elvis Costello, and is a perfect, scratchy complement to the beautiful strings aching underneath.
Jenn Ghetto
PHOTO CREDIT: CHRISTOPHER WILSON
Jenn Ghetto, former lead singer of dearly departed indie rock band Carissa’s Wierd [sic], is back in the form of the moniker S (under which she’s released several prior solo records). The dreamy new album, Cool Choices—produced by Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla—is a breakup record of the best kind. Gorgeous melodies swim above propulsive guitar and drums, carrying emotionally raw (and sometimes bitingly funny) lyrics that feel both incredibly personal and universal.
Levi Fuller (center)
PHOTO CREDIT: MEGHAN FULLER
Local musician-of-all-trades Levi Fuller (of The Bushwick Book Club music collective, quarterly audio magazine Ball of Wax, Hollow Earth Radio disc jockey, singer-songwriter, etc.) is working with a new backing band, The Library, and has a new record, The Wonders That There Are. The songs are as diverse as Fuller’s many interests—strummy folk ballads buddy up against soaring guitar rock and songs tinged with jangly ’60s psychedelics. It’s a marvelous ride.
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Photo Essay: Ferry Therapy
Words and photographs by Anna Starr.
Riding the ferry is my favorite Seattle pastime. At any given time on a Washington State Ferry you will find a group of tourists with too many suitcases, someone in work clothes peacefully napping, a jigsaw puzzle diligently being completed, lovers having a Titanic-esque moment on a balcony (fun fact: those balconies are called pickleforks),…
AANHPI Month: Where to Celebrate, Eat, and Learn Around Seattle
From festivals and museum exhibits to food tours and historic neighborhoods, here are a few ways to mark the month across the region.
Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month—known as AANHPI Month—is observed in the U.S. each May. It began as a weeklong observance in 1978 and expanded to the full month in 1992. Asian, Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities in the United States extend back much further, including to the late 16th century, when…
Black Panther Park in Skyway Becomes First Black Panther Park in the World
The new community garden honors the Black Panther Party’s legacy of food justice and the Skyway neighbors who helped bring it to life.
On a sunny Sunday earlier this month, at the corner of 75th Avenue and Renton Avenue South, the community gathered for the opening of Skyway’s Black Panther Park. Inspired by the Black Panther’s Free Breakfast for School Children program that compelled the federal government to provide breakfast in schools, Black Panther Park is a community…
Rearview Mirror: A Family Coming Apart, SIFF, and My First Fashion Show
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
The Family House A house can hold a lot, and Seattle Rep’s Appropriate knows that. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Tony-winning play, directed here by Timothy McCuen Piggee, drops the Lafayette siblings into their late father’s hoarded, falling-apart Arkansas plantation home for an estate sale, and lets the whole thing crack open from there. The sibling dynamics are…