Saints, that’s what they are over at Thrill Jockey. For years, they’ve been giving a good home to some of our finest indie rock, folk, and experimental musicians. Just the other day, they took in Date Palms, the wide-eyed, hungry duo of Gregg Kowalsky and Marielle Jakobsons. With their loving hands, Thrill Jockey will feed them, wash them, and release their third record The Dusted Sessions in June.
Without a good home, the mixture of modern drone and eastern traditional music the band offers on The Dusted Sessions may have wilted in the hot sun. Thankfully, the band went into LCR Studio with producer Phil Manley (Wooden Shjips, The Alps, Oneida) and recorded the album as a quintet. That very quintet made the album with electric bass, violin, tanpura, keyboards, and, for the first time in the band’s recorded history, GUITARS. Thrill Jockey, putting guitars in the hands of musicians who didn’t really use guitars before. God bless ‘em.
More details to come, but for now check out a clip from their 2011 performance at the San Francisco Zen Center.
• Date Palms: http://www.datepalmsofpsalms.com
• Thrill Jockey: http://www.thrilljockey.com
[Photo: Carly Hoopes]