Grave Digger

Necromancer

On A Farm

i love my friends so much, i am going to miss them. i hope this reminds you of how much you love yours. 

the sound of self-esteem 
start a band 
build a community

j. c. weinstock 
andy lewis 
connor sbrocco 
kaley macleod 
sang-jin lee 
zoë finkelstein 
jake zelikovsky 
kay ingulli 

peter auer - chord organ, recording, mixing, mastering, magic 
ziggy - "studio assistant lol"

pro pic - american poetry club

Full album out on February 7th, 2020
https://ittakestimerecords.bandcamp.com/album/waterfowl

The songs that we return to throughout our life are often, ironically, songs that we come to in a period of change: melodies that soundtrack love lost or direction found, lyrical fragments that invite us to process, a vitality that pushes us with confidence into unfamiliar territory. Frankie valet write those kinds of songs. Out 2/7 via It Takes Time Records, their new record Waterfowl is a collection that brims with eagerness and invention, that confronts both the clamour of youthful confusion and the stillness of nostalgia—in other words, it’s the sound of four friends growing together.

Frankie valet is Jack Elliott-Higgins on guitar and vocals, Felix Nelson on guitar and vocals, Gram Tolish on drums, and Alison Setili on bass and vocals. After a period of rotating through members, the lineup coalesced around the time the band recorded 2018’s Stop Apologizing, a charming and often understated document of a young band in transition.

Waterfowl, on the other hand, is something else entirely—an ambitious showpiece for a band simultaneously hitting their stride and exploring their range. Contemplative slowcore, MBV-indebted fuzz, post-punk propulsion, and good old-fashioned guitar heroics find a home on this record, often in the same song. The compositions are as unafraid to explore the corners of a placid groove as they are to veer off unexpectedly; mid-album highlight “Soft Skin” perhaps best captures this perfect blend of patience and restlessness, and the effect is something like Yo La Tengo with unmedicated ADHD.

The record is also a fitting companion to Frankie valet’s combustible live show, translating the band’s energy into a warm, lived-in mid-fi zone perfectly suited to songs that embrace dynamics in both decibel and feeling. These four perform with the urgency of a group that knows first hand the actualizing power of a basement show, and Waterfowl is smart to preserve that sense of purpose.

It’s a purpose born of their fertile, sometimes overlooked St. Louis scene, the accidental orbit of friendship and inspiration from which they emerged (Jack met Felix at a show in 2016 when Felix, only 19, asked Jack to buy him a beer). Likewise, the band’s process reflects the creative crossfire of any healthy scene—they write collaboratively, sharing lyrical duties among the vocalists and bringing musical ideas to practice in their infancy, for the group to flesh out together. The words and music reverberate with their communal origins.

“Everyone is speechless from afar,” goes the refrain to tone-setting album opener “Nakid.” As a negative formulation of Frankie valet’s power, it’s a perfect lyric: Waterfowl is a record that invites closeness as an antidote to voicelessness, that celebrates shared growth in all its thrills and embarrassments. And best of all, it’s just the first step. - Nathan Tucker

Waterfowl

Soft skin - Frankie valet

Out everywhere on 2/7
https://ittakestimerecords.bandcamp.com/album/waterfowl

Our apartment - Frankie valet

Written and Produced by Phil Danyew
Drums by Dan Bailey
Mixed By Carlos de la Garza
Mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters

My Muse (lyrics)

Take me where you want for the thrill
We got a little time to kill
The moment is a jaw to fill
Oh you crept behind the gods in my hallway
Swept me like a fever in all ways
Now there’s nothing I can do 
You’re my muse you’re my muse

Be mine be mine awe
Like it was always the beginning of time
The only people just you and I
Be mine be mine awe
Don’t cry
I promise you I’ll be fine
No nothing could go awry
When we’re together it’s all right

Secrets I’ll keep ‘em safe
Whisper through the ether strain 
I know there’s magic in your DNA
Oh I swam until the river was empty
Sank into the black hole inside me 
You woke me up with hazel & blue
Then I knew, you’re my muse

Be mine be mine awe
Like it was always the beginning of time
The only people just you and I
Be mine be mine awe
Don’t cry
I promise you I’ll be fine
No nothing could go awry
When we’re together it’s all right

it’s all right

Be mine be mine awe
Like it was always the beginning of time
The only people just you and I
Be mine be mine awe
Don’t cry
I promise you I’ll be fine
No nothing could go awry
When we’re together it’s all right

My Muse

Shoulda tuned my guitar

MUSIC VIDEO: https://youtu.be/gsMMj9W-7IA

lyrics

well I’m no more
than the crack in the door
and this life ain’t so bad
but it sure ain’t like my dreams

i mean what i say
except what i said today
could you see straight through
i think i am just confused
so confused
so confused

wouldn’t say i’m happy
but not sure how sad
stuck on the roof
maybe i’m just so confused
so confused
so confused

Confused

and so you learn another language
because maybe they might have some answers￼
or a philosophy of life 
that makes you sane again
but youll only learn
how to say
that you are lost
in a another way
you may work less 
but its just more time to think￼￼￼ a lot
and you think about
how theres no way out

it’s a breakdown
it’s just a breakdown

and you will live hurting others
youll hurt your friends and hurt your brothers
and you will try to make up for all of your mistakes
but even when you are cleansed 
of all your sins youll still remember them
and when you die you will hurt them all over again

yeah theres no way out
what were you talking about

it’s a breakdown
it’s just a breakdown

if you really want to cause no more pain
youd lock yourself inside a room and just remain
but i know you well and you would never do such a thing
cause even though you’re in pain
youd decide to live through it again
because at the end of it theres a light that youve seen before

and in that brief moment 
where it all makes sense
and its worth it
god knows its worth it

it's just a breakdown

it's just a breakdown (but it's worth it) mix 2

it's not the moon, i tell you
that's keeping you awake at night
so just open your window

it doesn't need an invite
the wind was only asking you
to try and be polite

i know ive had trouble with this too
i guess you won't fall asleep tonight

you think the sun is gonna blind you
when it tries to fill you up with light
you just have have to close your eyes

i know ive had trouble with this too
you just have to close your eyes

Grave Digger

Tank Man