Whistle Jacket - "Say Hello". Your room's a mess and your hair's a mess and you're looking forward to talking to your friend on the phone, ready to be charming and kind and fascinating and witty as all hell, just as soon as they call you, any second now, and you're pacing over your dirty socks, and you're yelping to yourself, like for practice, and you're waiting for the piano-scales that will be your cue, and I WILL BE THERE, ba ba ba, c'mon already.

[for a limited time, the Stop Start Skip & Jump EP is absolutely free.]

The Baptist Generals - "Diminished". (previously) [buy]

Dear C.H.,

I wish I had something more to give you. I could write you a story, I could bake you a cake, I could take you to the movies. I could give you a call on the telephone. I could enter you in a raffle, I could take you apple picking, I could tell you a little about my own willowing sorrows. I could - I do - give you a song. But I wish I had something more to give you. And yet I know the only more you want, deep down, is the thing that's gone, that's not just disappeared but fled, and I have no place in that. I'm the distant stranger. I'm the sun, beaming down. I can't rescue love, or avert loss, or explain things. I can listen. I can answer. I can give you a sad song and make you the promise that somewhere far away, someone else is singing along with you, whispering the words you don't know how badly, and hearing the high, lost keening of the accordion, like a circling albatross.

And I can say: patience. And I can say: life. And I can say listen to the kindness in basslines and remember that even sad songs end.

And to all the brokenhearted out there, to all the bereft and shattered, to the travellers and the lonelyhearts - let's form a club. There is no membership fee, no newsletter, no clubhouse. There isn't an annual convention, or a hotel discount. But when we're in the same bar, we'll play foosball together. When we're in the same apartment, we'll play records for each other. We'll hold the door for each other, and share taxis, and pass the ball, and tell you when you've dropped your gloves on the bus. We'll teach you magic tricks and catch your spilled cutlery. And we'll introduce you to our friends, who are beautiful and funny and kind and smart and good, and with one of whom you will one day, I promise, fall redpetal and blushcheeked in love, because this is the way things will go. And your love will linger and last.

And I ask you to take care, while you wait.

And I say, for everything it's worth:

Sincerely,

Sean

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update: moseying around the web, it looks like the long-promised new Baptist Generals album might actually be on its way (!!!!!!!). It's called Jackleg Devotional to the Heart. At their myspace there's an instrumental that seems more like premonition than preview... the best place for news is probably this blog.

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Dan wrote about Bad Flirt, the band beloved of Mary-Kate and Ashley, at Ajisignal.