Horse Feathers have shared a demo of Like Lavender, the second track pulled from the deluxe reissue of their debut album, Words Are Dead, out August 28th on Kill Rock Stars. It follows Finch on Saturday, the first thing the band ever committed to tape, which we covered here.
There is nothing to the recording but a guitar, a voice and a set of stairs. “‘Like Lavender’ was recorded in a single solitary take in a stairwell in our house in NE Portland,” Justin Ringle says. “I had written the song as I was crashing out of my old life in Idaho. I hear the song the same way as you would gaze at an old photo developed from a drug store. A quaint and small portrait of heart broken young guy that makes me wish I could time travel to and whisper ‘it does get better…'”
The reissue restores that period wholesale. The album has been remastered and pressed on an exclusive colour vinyl in a foil-stamped jacket, and the package includes a replica of the original six-song demo CD that Horse Feathers only ever sold at shows. NPR placed Words Are Dead among its ten best releases of 2006.
Ringle has kept the band moving since without ever quite reinventing it — House With No Home, Thistled Spring and Cynic’s New Year widened the palette, and Appreciation opened the sound outward into fuller arrangements. The current line-up of Ringle (guitar, vocals, banjo), Nathan Crockett (violin, saw), Halli Anderson of River Whyless (violin, vocals), Kati Claborn of Blind Pilot (banjo, vocals, clarinet) and Luke Ydstie, also of Blind Pilot (bass, cello, vocals), take the material back out across the US from August.
Pre-order the deluxe reissue of Words Are Dead, out August 28th on Kill Rock Stars via Bandcamp.
Tour Dates
August 6th — Portland, OR @ Topaz Farm
August 20th — Spokane, WA @ The District Bar
August 21st — Sandpoint, ID @ Idaho Pour Authority
August 22nd — Olympia, WA @ Wild Child
August 23rd — Seattle, WA @ The Tractor
August 26th — Baker City, OR @ Churchill School
August 27th — Trout Lake, WA @ Trout Lake Hall
August 28th — Astoria, OR @ Liberty Theater
August 29th — Eugene, OR @ Eugene Art House
August 30th — Bend, OR @ Silver Moon Brewing
September 11th — Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle Music Hall
September 12th — Durham, NC @ Stanczyk’s
September 15th — Roanoke, VA @ The Spot on Kirk
September 16th — Charlottesville, VA @ The Southern
September 17th — Vienna, VA @ Jammin’ Java
September 18th — New York, NY @ Village Presents
September 19th — New Haven, CT @ MeAndTheOtherMom House Show
September 20th — Boston, MA @ Club Passim
September 23rd — Arlington Heights, IL @ Hey Nonny
September 24th — Lake Orion, MI @ 20 Front Street
September 25th — Columbus, OH @ Natalie’s Grandview
September 26th — Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Cafe
September 27th — Charleston, WV @ Mountain Stage
December 4th — Ashland, OR @ The Story
December 6th — Santa Cruz, CA @ Woodhouse Blending & Brewing
December 7th — Mill Valley, CA @ Sweetwater Music Hall