Gently intoxicating.
Know this about RUTH GARBUS‘ latest record, JOULE EP, and really, all of RUTH GARBUS’ music, ever. This daughter of Brattleboro, she does not court attention of any kind, in the grand tradition of the denizens of Brattleboro. And yet they and she do not toil away inconsequentially.
No.
However, maybe you find out that they released a record (online album/ 7″) some 8 months after they actually did so. Maybe.
GARBUS is one of the quietest performers I have ever seen play, so remember when you mob her next live performance: be quiet, ok? But on record? On record, the “studio of our minds and her imagination” has her back. And her songwriting soars above our/ your head. And there’s some whistling, and pitch shifted guitars, and you’re all like, “Bedroom pop, wasn’t that the 90s? But SYD BARRETT happened in the 60s?” And yet here is RUTH GARBUS. Here she is.

“Hippies cash flow is strong, Stopped at Walmart just to buy a bong”
How does Ruth know what I’m thinking?
Why won’t she give us more than 5 songs?
Ruth, if you are going to make 5 songs that creep the corridors of my mind, reminding me of good memories all the way through. If you are going to make 5 songs that my whole family: my wife Meg, my son Zachary, myself, that we can can all enjoy. A 5 song album that ends with a fantastical guitar bliss out called “June”, and that features quite possibly the New England underground pop song of the year in “Certain Kind.” If you are going to do that, you are going to be leaving a whole bunch of people wanting more, because I can’t be the only one!
So, totally, on my end of year lists (that I haven’t written yet). Whoops. Happy 2015. Also available as a 7″ on the potent OSR TAPES.