By Mike Faloon
Last summer Black Wine released their second album, Summer of Indifference. I listened to it a lot and kept a journal. It’s part of a zine called Learning to Surf. Here is day three.
I didn’t get to listen to the record today. Allie was away so it was me and the kids. The only music I heard was my kids singing songs from the Rio soundtrack. They jumped on the bed and used the ends of a jump rope for microphones.
I did think about the record for a moment when we took a break from playing superhero tag.[1] I thought about the two 7”s Black Wine released since their last album. Those in-between records can be helpful indicators for where a band is headed. Like when Peter Buck broke out the mandolin on those late ‘80s R.E.M. b-sides. As much as some of their records disappointed me during the ‘90s, in hindsight, I should have seen it coming.
But it’s not that easy with Black Wine. Their first single, “Tornado” b/w “Windy” (Art of the Underground, 2010) was lighter and poppier. Then they slowed down, really slowed down, for the follow up 7”, the Dark Energy EP (Don Giovanni, 2011). The bands they covered on these 7”s give a good sense of where Black Wine were coming from: the Association, then Jethro Tull. But neither hinted at the sounds of Summer of Indifference.
[1] Superhero Tag = Traditional tag + the kids wearing capes and masks
From Learning to Surf, a one-shot music zine by Mike Faloon.
Read past installments of We Should Talk More – Ten Days with the Black Wine’s Summer of Indifference.
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