James Schildknecht
Patient songs that will tell you a slightly different story every time you listen. Favorite album I've heard in a while.
Favorite track: Lifetime Sentence.
"If Bob Dylan was funny, if Tom Waits was relevant, Ryan might not be peerless at what he does best, which is writing large gregarious circles around his pitiful colleagues in the field.
He's the best lyricist who's not a rapper going." - David Berman, 2018
"'Send Flowers' is State Champion’s most fully realized Beard Rock expression to date. The surrealist underpinning of Ryan’s lyrics are heavier than ever, but that is balanced by the band’s most epiphanically tasty licking. The pieces fit together with such easy organic grace, it’s tempting to suspect they’re simple. But the closer you listen to the parts the more complex they appear.
This begins with Ryan’s words, which are sung so gracefully you have to concentrate to pick up on the timeless phrases he invents here, but when you pay attention they jump up and just about bite you. The same thing goes for the instrumentation, which initially passes as a mere recreation of lost Topanga threads. but surpasses those bounds with the something approaching the same assurance as the David Lindley-led band on Terry Reid’s River LP (the transcendent Beard Rock masterpiece).
'Send Flowers' will almost surely be misapprehended by lazy farmers and the cows who follow them. It may also be anathema to folks who primarily head-link it to Tropical Trash, but for anyone who digs the new generation of singer/songwriters out there, from Wooden Wand to Ned Collette to the legacy of the Silver Jews.
Peel slowly and see." - Byron Coley, 2018
credits
released November 9, 2018
(co-release w/ Feeding Tube Records)
RECORDED OCT 31 - NOV 4, 2017 IN BLOOMINGTON, IN
BY JOHN DAWSON AT RUSSIAN RECORDING + MAGNETIC SOUTH
supported by 48 fans who also own “STATE CHAMPION "Send Flowers"”
Her voice, the vulnerability within, and a glorious sound, not overproduced but natural. 'Tender Heart' gets me - resonates in a way that is sad and glorious simultaneously. Discordant guitars behind a clean acoustic and voice ballad. Love her voice, her lyrics. Great album. BikeBoy29
supported by 48 fans who also own “STATE CHAMPION "Send Flowers"”
Maybe the best thing David ever did, which makes me extremely sad. A Jews record in all but name, but more direct in its lyricism without losing that indescribable feeling, that beauty and sorrow and lighthearted sarcasm all rolled into one profound set of lyrics that are David Berman. Not to mention the band playing on the record is probably the best Berman ever recorded with. Rest in Peace DCB. jack_thorn16
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