I covered the last volume of this seven inch series from Gubbey Records who have been documenting the Louisville, Kentucky scene exclusively the past few years and actually just released a double cassette of over two hours illustrating the diversity of sound in Louisville, doing away with the idea of this part (or any other really) of the country having any kind of cohesive sound. This split with IamIs and Tamara Dearing makes sense paired together while still not having much to do with this part of the country in any stereotypical way.
IamIs is a duo of Shawna Dellecave and Jason Cox in a Mates of State arrangement of drums and organ but approaching these layers with more of a Flaming Lips or Quasi baroque pop feel. In A-Side's "Paperface" the guitar is sandwiched mid level in the mix while Jason on vocals takes a narrative route working in sweet harmonies with himself that are elevated when Shawna finally joins in on this chorus. Real dreamy stuff about a broken projector over jazzy high hat beats and breathy Hammond. The focus is always on those vocals and the layers of harmonies working on each verse. It's a dense kind of swirly pop that piles on thick out of what should just be this married duo layering in jittery drums and an organ off on weird parallels to the guitar's jangle. The abstract smooth psych vocals remind me of the Apples in Stereo slick pop sound but IamIs they have the advantage of immaculate guy/girl harmonies and their mind altering organ.
Tamara Dearing's B-Side track "Break Your Heart" features another keyboard cleaner and bigger in this mix and vocally she's got a fluttery Feist style echo. Live sounding drums and she's tracked herself in for the harmonies here with a slight country snarl about not wanting to break your heart. Well - just don't then. In the meantime she's going home and listening to records when she can't stand up straight. It's all delivered in an unassuming delicate Rhodes whir that could sound sensitive and heartbreaking. Now I think she's warning the audience. She doesn't mean to break it, she's just trying to sing a couple of songs with this Jenny Lewis attitude and style that got her into this solo place. Now I'm thanking her for the warning.
Get this on Pink vinyl from Gubbey Records. All Louisville...which apparently is everything. Are they kind of ruining the very reason the label is focused on this specific place? Are they saying it doesn't even matter? If you can find a cassette player it's yours to answer. Silly obsolete medium. Tiny records are the future obviously.
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