Love? said the Commander - "Bones (Live From the Wayne County Courthouse"
Words by Zach Romano
Philadelphia duo Love? said the Commander continued their strong stretch of EP releases last week with “Bones (Live from the Wayne County Courthouse).” Guitarist Chis Bishop and singer/multi-instrumentalist Kate Hall recorded the EP in one session, sitting around a stereo microphone in the historic old courtroom, now rarely used for its original purpose. L?STC have always utilized space and judiciously-edited minimalism in their songs; on the four tracks that comprise “Bones,” though, you can really hear the room, and the gentle resonance it provides turns the space into something even richer than what we’re used to from the duo.
The Wayne County Courthouse sits on scenic Central Park in Honesdale, PA, the town where Chris and I grew up. It’s a gorgeous spot; “Winter Wonderland” was written about this park, honest to god. Chris and I played in a band together back then, and if the Courthouse doesn’t hold a special place in our musical history, it’s at least near to a few. Our band practiced literally a stone’s throw away, and on one occasion upon finding an unattended stage set up in the park, we plugged in and played undisturbed for hours.
This setting is ideally suited to the thoughtful, meditative music that Chris and Kate purvey. L?STC seems to work best when operating within constraints, and on “Bones,” all they have to work with is a guitar, a violin, and Kate’s voice. Despite these limitations, though, they achieve a sound with as much if not more depth than they have in previous releases. The key to this is the room itself. It serves here as almost a third member of the band, its contours and resonance evident from the EP’s first note. The way the room complements the band’s sound recalls Cowboy Junkies’ The Trinity Session, recorded around a single microphone in Ontario’s Church of the Holy Trinity, or My Morning Jacket’s The Tennessee Fire, legendarily laid down in a grain silo in Kentucky.
The EP begins with the title track, which opens with just Chris’s guitar and Kate’s voice. “Bones” covers familiar lyrical ground for the band, finding meaning in the mundane and describing the little actions that are stand-ins for larger issues. Here, a chat about the weather elides addressing a relationship’s in-progress disintegration, with Kate’s violin plucks serving as the metaphor-laden raindrops. “Tea Cheers” is the other side of the coin, where a brewing tea serves as a device conveying a relationship’s stability and security. “Autopilot” is the band’s first instrumental number, a waltz between violin and guitar with each taking lead at different times. “Sylvia” is shorter and bouncier than anything else on the EP; it reveals a more exuberant side to Hall’s vocals that calls to mind Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell.
Listen to the album below!
You can buy “Bones (Live from the Wayne County Courthouse)” at L?STC’s Bandcamp. The duo will be playing a livestream via Harvey's House on Friday, February 25 and will return to the stage at The Graperoom in Philly on 4/22. In the meantime, be sure to check out their Year of Covers series on YouTube.
