Explains is the title of the latest release from long running eclectic folk artist Kyle Field, better known to most as Little Wings. I came across Little Wings in the early years of FRUK and the discovery opened a whole new world of lo-fi music to me,that was in 2004 – he’d released his first album in 1998! At the time there weren’t many radio stations playing this brand of alt-folk music which began to rise in popularity catching mainstream radio airplay around the freak-folk boom being led by the likes of Devendra Banhart, Animal Collective and Joanna Newsom. Whilst I can recall his albums Soft Pow’r and Black Grass picking up a fair bit of press he’s never been one to go off in search of the limelight.
Getting back to his current album the video used for By Now uses footage from the film Hang Loose, a story about a transient surfer returning to his small central California coast home town, Field plays the character of Wade. If anyone told me it was a day in the life of Little Wing, I’d believe it…it sits well alongside the isolation and air of mystery he still seems to hold.