{"id":2827,"date":"2018-09-13T14:45:50","date_gmt":"2018-09-13T18:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/?p=2827"},"modified":"2018-09-13T14:45:50","modified_gmt":"2018-09-13T18:45:50","slug":"dot-ep70-spencer-garland-is-pr-newman-plus-new-music-from-the-innocence-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/2018\/09\/13\/dot-ep70-spencer-garland-is-pr-newman-plus-new-music-from-the-innocence-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"DoT EP70: Spencer Garland is PR Newman, plus New Music from The Innocence Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you listened to EP69 with comedian and author Guy Branum<\/a>, you heard a little taste of the new PR Newman<\/a> album, Turn Out<\/em>. If not, I hope you\u2019ll take a listen and come back to this conversation. There is a lot to talk about with this music. I got an advance of the album a month or so ago, and wound up listening to it in the car over and over for the next several days \u2013 which is the mark of a good album. Car listening is essential. Every time I listened, I heard something different. It starts out with an optimistic song that is nonetheless called \u201cGot To Hell.\u201d I enjoy that kind of contradiction, a friction between the sound and lyrical content. I heard Apostrophe-Overnite Sensation<\/em> era Frank Zappa in the next track, \u201cHere Come the Rangers,\u201d especially in regards to Zappa\u2019s wonderful use of the Ikettes as backup singers. I heard solo Frank Black in one song, the Kinks in the next, countrified Byrds in another. Spencer Garland, the musician behind PR Newman, has chops as a player and a songwriter, and he has a sense of humor. That\u2019s a full toolkit. <\/p>\n

I caught up with Garland just before he left for a short tour of Germany to talk about how PR Newman came about and the inspiration for the songs. Turn out is the debut full-length album for the project, which is mostly Garland with some other players. Garland spent years in bands as a side guy, playing guitar or organ, so this is him stepping out front, even though it\u2019s not under his real name. The name PR Newman comes from a comment someone made after seeing him play, calling him a \u201cpunk rock Randy Newman.\u201d There is a bit of a persona involved, and Garland reserves the right to wait for a different project until he releases something as Spencer Garland. <\/p>\n

Our featured track of the week, \u201cLook Out From Your Window\u201d by The Innocence Mission<\/a> from their latest album Sun On the Square<\/em>. This is the band\u2019s tenth album over their near thirty-year history. If you\u2019re new to the band, you might think this is an Irish import because of the pastoral sounds and subjects and the lilt in singer Karen Peris\u2019s voice. The band actually started in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and when I went looking for an explanation for the accent, I found a show review from the L.A. Time back in 1991 written by Chris Willman, who also puzzled over its origin. His best guess, he wrote, was \u201cEuropean and otherworldly.\u201d <\/p>\n

The music reminds me of that moment when winter is changing to spring, a time with a promise of warmth and growth, when your bones still remember the cold and isolation. \u201cLook Out From Your Window\u201d starts with the narrator asking, \u201cLook out from your window now\/Can you see me cheering for you, up and down?\u201d The story seems to follow two people looking at the same weather, the same snow and leaves, and the narrator wondering if they are seeing it the same way. The refrain is, \u201cAll I cannot say I hope you know\/All you cannot say I hope I can hear.\u201d Take a listen for yourself. <\/p>\n

You can listen to and download the podcast from the player below, or subscribe\/review on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. Enjoy!<\/p>\n