Hovers Over Dover
a gig announcement, gratuitous teasing, and "Ask Sammy" about Joni Mitchell
Hi everyone,
I am writing with a singular bit of good news. On June 27, I will be playing a Bird Calls show at the Hungry Brain in Chicago with Advance Base. This is exciting both because I love the city of Chicago and because I love the music of Advance Base. Owen Ashworth, who runs Orindal Records and used to record under the name Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, has been one of my favorite songwriters for a long time. He is a great storyteller and a rare example of how to navigate the “music industry” while maintaining a high level of work and righteous old-school indie mentality. His album Nephew in the Wild is my favorite lately, and especially the song “Summon Satan.”
You can buy tickets for that gig here. If you do not live in Chicago, do not fret. I will be playing a lot of shows (relatively speaking) in the coming months, in more places than I am used to visiting. It will be fun! I’ll be sharing details about those dates soon, along with a new album I’m announcing next week. Stay tuned.
That’s all for now, I think. Oh also, if you’re a fan of Elliott Smith, which I assume you are, I want to draw your attention to this fan-made 20th anniversary restoration of From a Basement on the Hill that’s on Archive.org, a website that I basically just use as an Elliott Smith fansite now. There’s an incredible amount of bootlegs and cool compilation projects like this. I love all the songs he was working on during this period, and it’s great to have them all in one place, sounding so good. Okay, that’s it. Let’s move on to Ask Sammy.
Welcome to “Ask Sammy,” a recurring feature in this newsletter where I respond to questions from subscribers. Send any inquiries to asksamsodomsky@gmail.com.
Question: I love ’90s Joni so much, like Taming the Tiger. I love the sound of the guitar which also reminds me of ML Buch and other stuff that I’ve really loved over the years. What are some other albums that have that kind of guitar sound you’d recommend? and how would you describe it?
I love ’90s Joni too! And that album in particular. One time me and my friends did a whole podcast episode about it. What you’re hearing is the VG8, a system that allows her to filter her guitar through a bunch of different MIDI sounds. Jerry Garcia was also pretty obsessed with this technology (see “Bird Song” on Without a Net) and so was Pat Metheny (see “The Truth Will Always Be” on Secret Story).
Like most things with Joni, the sound she came up with is totally singular and it’s difficult to find anything comparable beyond the genuine article. When she plays, it really feels like its own instrument. There is this New Agey, mystical quality but she also loves interrupting it with blasts of metallic power chords. There is so much movement after she strikes the strings; you can hear them echo and shimmer and bend, which gives everything this psychedelic underwater atmosphere.
She experimented with some of these textures even in the ’70s, like in “Refuge of the Roads,” but by the ’90s she sought this pristine, surrealist tone that seemed miles away from the organic setting of her more characteristic work. Not everyone got it at the time, so it’s cool watching it come back into style.
ML Buch is a great example, and I am trying to think of some others. Have you heard the Ruth Garbus record that came out on Orindal last year? The same combination of silvery tones and soaring vocals with piercing lyrics reminds me of Taming the Tiger. I particularly love this song “Whisper in Steel.”
Another song with a similar sound is “Two” by Flock of Dimes, which uses the guitar shimmer as a background texture to underline a more anthemic quality. This one is really good for springtime listening.
Lastly, have you heard Joni playing “Just Like This Train” on Letterman with a Parker Fly and her ’90s set-up? Line for line and note for note, this is probably my favorite Joni song, and I love the way she altered her delivery to suit her changing sound. I return to this video all the time. It’s perfect.
In the mirrors of a modern bank,
Sammy