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Benedict Kupstas
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Benedict Kupstas Nico's songs burrow their way into your heart and take up residence, redecorating with lots of tchotchkes, pacing around and reciting Dickinson poems while sipping whiskey 'til your heartbeat starts swinging in 3/4. I couldn't possibly be more biased, but I feel certain that even if I didn't love this boy I'd find this album to be an utterly wrenching masterpiece.
Will Thomas
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Will Thomas Like cracked teacups held together with old string. Fragile and powerful. Potent and spacious. A beautiful record to discover on your own time. Favorite track: The Tower.
amedeo confessore
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amedeo confessore What an amazing album best male voice of 2021 so far
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    Nico Hedley's debut album Painterly lovingly pressed on 180 gram black vinyl by New Orleans Record Press with beautiful cover and lyric sheet designed by Benedict Kupstas.

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  • 12" Vinyl Smokey Clear+Black
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Super limited run of Painterly on very cool smokey clear and black vinyl. Lovingly pressed by New Orleans Record Press with beautiful cover and lyric sheet designed by Benedict Kupstas.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Painterly via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.
Tennessee 02:30
Fifty miles to Tennessee; I hope we find somewhere to sleep tonight won’t be different, it’s always the same Truck stop at dawn, corn fields for days And I’ll take my turn at the wheel for a while because there’s nothing to do but think it through as I watch the signs fly by and the shivering lines Picking the flowers and learning their names Yeah, a day off in Atlanta sounds great but we’ll hit New York in about seven days And I want you to want me, to(o) I just want someone to say goodbye to
2.
Did it change your mind? Write it off—I do it all the time Push my thoughts back and tow the line I confess: I slept all day Do you take it whole? Or tear it up and cast it off, just to fall in love with what you have lost? Either way, I can relate If I keep a level head, I’ll make it through, it seems but I spent all day retracing steps in hazy waking dreams until the orange lights washed over me I still feel fifteen when I’m alone at night with my mind or staying out too late on the lower east side I hope sleep takes me before first light
3.
If I stand alone at the gate for an hour, it might change it somehow It’s strange but it’s out that I came to break it in two to mend it for you somehow I scrape the soles of my shoes when I walk to wear them both down, I’m trying it out If I feel the slush seeping in, there’s a reason for bowing out Don’t waste your time on it—I’ve been setting the stakes, cooking the books Are you keeping an eye open? I’m still on the take breaking it down so at least I’ll have something to make In a daze with hands interlaced— it’s so strange that it’s simple and sound Like a top, it’ll spin till it stops and it lies still on the ground But I don’t wanna go there, baby—it’s a lazy high, and highs come down If I’m spry I can rationalize and draw truth from a lie, somehow Call it out, hold it like it’s holy It’s a broken kind of open till it’s shut And we could talk it out for hours and waste all our time, or else sing a psalm to independence, estranged but alive Find a silence in the sound; in time
4.
Push it hard ‘til it splinters; let me know when it hurts, find a line to make it work It's doubt and you can't sleep when it's around— just gotta hear that sound, so familiar, cause it means everything to me What's it worth if it's hollow? Just find another way to go Make it right but not for show Cause it's out that I can't breathe when you’re around; just wanna hear that sound, so familiar cause it means everything to me Don't rely on it—I’m still fine for it It's just this heart of mine's feeling helpless and I can't just let it be Wanna take a ride with me? I'll tell you what it's like, darlin’ thinking all the time about how you went and set me free It's a rush that you can't explain, but it'll find a way to seep in until it stays— it stings in little ways, but you can cut it out Just gotta hear that sound, so familiar cause it means everything I'll see you in my dreams but I don't know if i can sleep Sometimes I realize it's been gone so long It's like a loss of light, an ebbing tide, the eddies they go crazy churning, swirling
5.
Draw a line and I’ll stop if I find it I’m stupid for trying to say it out loud It’s a seamless excuse, but it’s far from the truth— guess that’s something that I do when I’m down, still trying to figure it out It’s a splinter of grey, enough to drive you insane I hope I got something better in me now Take it home right away, What’s the use? Will it pay? I want someone to let me know how Still trying to figure it all out And I wanna know what you’re thinking, I wanna try to pull it out of you I’m on the ropes and I’m bleeding, I wanna know I’ll find a way to let you down every day I’ll break promise after promise somehow All in all, it’s a noose, it’s a type of abuse, it won’t loosen till I cut the thing down Still trying to figure it all out And If your heart will allow I’ll just find a way to break it somehow Lying there as you trace gentle lines across my chest till I’m out And it just goes slowly Darling, hold me But I just wanna dance Is that all right? I’ll tug you around, we’ll waltz for a while, we’ll drink up this town and if you need me there honey I’ll be sure to not be around Is that alright? I wanna know what your thinking I wanna try to pull it out of you I’m on the ropes and I’m bleeding I wanna know I wanna want what I’m needing I wanna want what I’m needing I guess it’s easy to pretend that I know and I’m trying I swear I’m doing right How’s that for compromise? And I’ll break before I bend but I know that I’m lying, I swear I’m doing right How’s that for sacrifice?
6.
Painterly 03:45
Wrapt by something longed for still and sweet Helpless heart swung open, painterly I stood by the window as you rolled like a rising tide A knowing smile grinds me to a halt “Another life” -- just say it soft Open and familiar silence slows Always dressed for weather—where’d we go? All I know for certain is your eyes seem free Storm in open ocean, painterly And I could find the reasons why No one wants to make it out If I could find a ride, I wouldn’t go because it’s a long way, you know For all that fondled them when they were fire will gleam and understand That fondled them when they were fire will gleam and understand That fondled them when they were fire will gleam and understand
7.
The Tower 07:16
Hands down the worst time I’ve ever had Willoughby and Onderdonk that’s what we could’ve had Spend the time, let the winter lift you know it never lasts At Willoughby and Onderdonk that’s what we could’ve had No, it wasn’t all we had to do Just decimate the self and let it all pass through Teeth pulled and rhythm struck Prairie grass and wildflower, vague visions carry us Heavy lidded, heavy handed, silently pushing off Snow drift and city traffic hum soft I know it wasn’t all we had to do I know we say it, but is it true? Was it really all we had to do? I wouldn’t know But once you’ve drawn them all you’ve drawn The Tower too Once you’ve drawn them all, you’ve drawn The Tower too Hands down the worst time I’ve ever had Willoughby and Onderdonk that’s what we could’ve had
8.
It Gets Easy 05:27
They say it gets easy but I wouldn’t know I’m rushing like a summer day to the snow It don’t feel like losing but taking on a load And a sense of a winding dark country road Lying down on the hardwood, hand on the phone Wanting out of a darkness that chills to the bone or at least a familiar sense of alone Is it easy for you? Or are you really scared? Are they all reminders wherever you look? Or are they even there? Is it all horizon? Or is it closing in? Is it fading softly? Or is it thickening? Does he say it simple? Is it sweet and clear? Does he let you wander inside for a time? Is it lovely there? Does it seem familiar? Or is it something new? Can I call you later? Just to talk to you I wanna know They say it gets easy but I wouldn’t know
9.
Lioness 03:10
I saw you there, bright as a spark holding an answer alone in the dark; level and lovely, right on the mark And I feel the weight of every breath as you take them proudly a lioness; as tall as the spire you’ve gilded for them You make it look so easy I bet you think you’re tough But there’s a light and it’s shining not only for you We could all feel the glow pouring out of the blue If we wanted to If we wanted to

about

The songs on Nico Hedley’s debut album Painterly were sparked by unsparing self-reflection. Sometimes they took the initial form of a sticky melody, a punchy one-liner, or an uncomfortable memory he couldn’t push aside. In an effort to push beyond writing “confessionally,” however, the Queens-based singer-songwriter and prolific bassist trusted in cryptic signals from the broader world—for instance, the miniature Emily Dickinson quotation at the center of the title track—to elevate his intimate sketches beyond himself.

The result of this intuitive process is an unusual and gorgeous collection of songs about loss, miscommunication, and selfishness. They push beyond their specific contexts without diffusing their emotional charge, which is as direct and plaintive as that of the country music Hedley was steeped in while writing the record. Sung in spindly melismas inspired by Hedley’s Nashville music North Star, George Jones, Painterly offers up a kind of cubist take on what he calls “achy breaky” country, taking additional cues from the baroque songcraft of Joanna Newsom and Jason Molina’s folk-rock exorcisms.

Painterly never delves into empty musical homage, though. Hedley’s “family band”’s approach always feels unprecedented, carefully underscoring his wistful, darkly humorous, and sometimes harrowing narration. (The unit features Hedley’s former Brooklyn roommates and trained jazz musicians: guitarist Ryan El-Solh, bassist Carmen Rothwell, and winds commandant Adam “Bones” Robinson, along with Jeff Widner on drums.) In the mode of the last couple of Talk Talk records, the songs follow non-linear trajectories, with soloists exploding out of the song for emphasis or receding somewhere behind it. Elsewhere, the whole band plays as loud as possible for a few bars at a time before vanishing completely. The upshot is a record that sounds at once like a very live ensemble recorded scrappily in a small room—the reality of the situation—and an abstract, three-dimensional studio collage.

Painterly often conjures tense exchanges on NYC street corners, but it begins with the narrator lost on a road in the middle of the South (“Tennessee”). Hedley’s wiry, fingerpicked accompaniment halts and accelerates like he’s changing his mind about what exit to take or how country he really wants this song to be. It ends (“Lioness”) with a swinging waltz tune, wreathed in steel guitar, following a moment of potential spiritual clarification: “But there’s a light and it’s shining not only for you/We could all feel the glow pouring out of the blue.” Like many of the finest moments on this record, the melody doesn’t quite sound triumphal and the climax doesn’t seem to last long enough. Gestures like these parallel the impermanence of easy conclusions in Hedley’s lyrics. In the world of Painterly, there is no respite from moving forward—often, away from others—in that constant attempt to re-access something within ourselves that always seems in danger of being lost.

-Winston Cook-Wilson

credits

released September 3, 2021

All songs written by Nico Hedley.
Recorded and mixed by Tom Teirney at Spaceman Sound in Brooklyn, NY, with additional tracking by Alex Greiner at his home studio in Queens, NY. Rhodes, pedal steel, and backing vocals recorded by the players in their homes. Mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering in Chicago, IL. Design and layout by Benedict Kupstas.

Personnel:
Nico Hedley - Guitar, Vocals
Carmen Rothwell - Double Bass
Ryan El-Solh - Guitar
Jeff Widner - Drums
Adam "Bones" Robinson - Tenor Sax, Clarinet, Flute
Alena Spanger - Vocals
Drew Citron - Vocals
Hamilton Belk - Pedal Steel
Winston Cook-Wilson - Rhodes

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Nico Hedley New York, New York

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