JON CAMPBELL: PLAYLIST
I wanted to make a playlist comprised of male vocals which are fragile and vulnerable. I chose the songs on a gloomy Sunday in Berlin, so without realizing it, it became a Sunday playlist. So these are some sweet, sad boys for Sundays:
The first EP from US born / Berlin-based alt-country artist Jon Campbell ‘About A Boy’ is out 29th Feb.
JON CAMPBELL: SWEET, SAD, SUNDAY BOYS PLAYLIST
Michael Hurley – Penguins
I’m pretty sure he’s singing the trumpet part. I know he sings flute arrangements in other tracks. A sweet and simple track by a brilliant artist.
Elliot Smith – Pretty (Ugly Before)
I’ve got a love/hate relationship with Elliot Smith. I love his voice but it always leaves me wanting a bit more of it. This is one of the rare tracks where his voice opens up a lot more and is more present, and also very vulnerable.
Lou Reed – Perfect Day
What can I say about this track? It’s maybe one of the greatest songs ever written. Lou Reed conveys so much in his voice – he’s a master of subtlety. And Bowie’s production is amazing. A perfect track.
The Irrepressibles – Our World It Fell So Quietly
I love the way this song moves through different “seasons”. It’s written more like a poem than a lyric, and flows through different chapters in a story, with each one underscored by a change in the arrangement. And the guitar sounds just like Jeff Buckely…
Jeff Buckley – Dream Brother
… who couldn’t not go on a sweet, sad, Sunday boys playlist. Just an amazing song and intensely beautiful soul. And a voice like honey, mmm!
Leonard Cohen – Love Calls You By Your Name
Of course the lyrics are epic, as is pretty much everything this man does. Anytime I imagine Leonard Cohen writing a song, I picture him in a tower, with a crack in the window, through which sunlight is pouring in and all the dust particles are dancing in the sunbeam, and he’s smiling and starts tickling his guitar. He’s also quite immortal in my mind. If there’s a god, it’s him.
Red House Painters – Mistress (Piano Version)
This song gives me goosebumps. I love the honesty in his voice and in the lyric. It’s an “endless repeat” kind of song to me.
Neutral Milk Hotel – Two-Headed Boy Part II
It might seem weird to put Jeff Mangum’s voice next to Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters), but even though one is like butter and one is like Tabasco, they are both extremely fragile to me. Jeff Mangum’s vulnerability is that he is just like a little boy screaming for his mother to come home or for his father’s love. This song makes me cry every time I listen to it, and since it’s the last track on my no.1 favorite album (In The Aeroplane Over The Sea), I thought it’d be good to wrap up this playlist with it.
