All Songs Considered: Bon Iver talks to God, plus Tori Amos

- Okay, what are you doing?

“- Well, my beloved Kansas J-Hawks went down”

in the second round of the tournament again. - Okay. - They haven't gotten past the first weekend since 2022 when they won it all, but it was a brutal, brutal loss to St. John's...

- Go J-Hawks. - Nobody says go J-Hawks. - Okay, see, look, nobody says it's rock chalk J-Hawk. - Okay, I'm sorry. - Rock chalk J-Hawk.

- All right, get a definition of this. - This is a sports talk show, no? - I wish we had a sports talk show. This episode of All Songs Considered Comes Do You From The NPR Music Podcast. To your one-stop shop for everything

in the music nerdverse, including Alt Latino you'll find. That in the speed every Wednesday,

“we close out every week with new music Friday,”

a rundown of the best new albums out. Every other Thursday in the NPR Music Podcast, we've got a plus episode with hand powers and daoud Tyler Amine where they do deep dives on a single song.

They're back this week with Mariah Carey's fantasy. - Wait, why am I not on that episode? - I know, Mariah is your queen. - That's my queen. - It's your queen.

- Oh my gosh, well, that's a great song, you know? - You know, I'm disappointed that I wasn't asked to participate, but I will be happy to be a listener. So in PR Music, also where you will find the wild and wondrous world of large gotrich.

- That's me. - That's you Lars. I should mention we've got new episodes of all songs considered every Tuesday, we get into all kinds of stuff on the show, but on this episode, we're sharing our picks for the best new songs out now.

I wanna start with Bo and I Verran. Are you a Bo and I Verran fan? I don't know that you are. I liked the first album and my first EP. - Yeah.

- I dropped off after that. Well, Bo and I Verran has a new live album coming out. We don't normally do live albums.

I don't know, they don't always give us anything new.

They don't really offer anything. Unless you're talking about Frampton comes alive, or exit stage left from Rush. - Okay, this one for Bo and I Verran. I don't know, it really took me by surprise.

It's called, the album is called Volume's One. Selections from Music Concerts 2019 to 2023. So the first cut that they've released from it is a rarity called Heavenly Father. And this is a song that Bo and I Verran originally wrote

back in 2014 for the Zach Brath film. Wish I was here. It was on a soundtrack compilation for that film. But the only way you could hear it is if you bought it on like physical, like a CD,

or vinyl or something, it was never available to stream.

So it's very cool to hear the song at all,

“but this live version I think is especially cool.”

Again, it's called Heavenly Father. (upbeat music) ♪ Ever since I heard the howling wind ♪ ♪ I didn't need to go in a Bible in ♪ ♪ Then you know you give seem heavy sand ♪

♪ Just leave it to a corner that that's the city ♪ ♪ But I don't know how you hours the sand ♪ ♪ But you're free now ♪ ♪ I was never so how much of you I could let in ♪ ♪ Then I'm free now ♪

♪ Won't you settle down, baby, your love has been ♪ ♪ Heavenly Father ♪ ♪ Stephanie, love, well you don't care the other name ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ When you're by the day you try to go ♪

♪ Going on a day as we learn to close ♪ ♪ Howling wind ♪

♪ I was never so howling howling to end ♪

♪ I was never so howling howling to end ♪

“♪ I was never so howling howling to end ♪”

♪ But I don't know howling howling I can pretend ♪ ♪ Heavenly Father ♪ ♪ Scratch with his honor ♪ ♪ And all is left in it ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪

♪ It's hard to spell up your forgotten game ♪ ♪ Can't you see now ♪ ♪ The Lord holds me, God can't fear ♪ ♪ I am free now ♪ ♪ But I don't know about it, I don't know if it's standing here ♪

♪ Heavenly Father ♪ ♪ So any office, safe to be in here ♪ (upbeat music) (audience cheering) - You know what that sounds like to me?

- What? - I don't know if the original from the live version, but it sounds like a self-and-also made a heart-land rock song. - Oh, I totally hear Sylvanas so in that. I hadn't thought of that until now.

- But like if they had covered John Cougar, Melancham, or something. - Well, I wonder what you thought, like if you're just, you like the folkie or least stuff, like what you think is just not the way you wanna hear

the "Bony Bear," the sort of heavy sins and processed sounds. - Well, my impression is that this has kind of like been his jam for a long time, kind of like more sense than stuff. - Yeah, for sure.

- Yeah, and so is the recorded version like this? - Yeah, I mean, this is pretty true to the original version.

“I think this live version gets a little bigger.”

It's more euphoric. It has a bit more of a punch to it. It's kind of raw in a way, I don't know if you hear that, but it's, I don't know, it kind of cuts to the bone in a way that the recorded studio version doesn't.

- Well, that's why I'm kind of made the heart-land rock comparison, 'cause it's super earnest, but in this case, it's over-sense and electronics and kind of like a weird little sample that's been looped.

- Well, so this live album from "Bony Bear" is it's part of a new series that the band is doing called volumes, and this is just

the first volume volumes, one.

And the plan is to put out a bunch of live recordings, previously unreleased tracks, demos, other things from the vaults, the archives, the "Bony Bear" archives. This first collection volumes one selections from Music Concerts 2019 to 2023.

It is out April 3rd. - Where do you want to go from there? - I think we stand them at West. - Okay. - So we started with Oak Ware, Wisconsin.

- Yeah. - You want to come up "Bony Bear" going to Chicago. - All right. - With the first album in 30 years by a truly cult band, and I don't use that term lightly

called "Sold American." Are you familiar with this band at all? - So it's sold S-O-U-L-E-D, right? - So, I know it only because Jeff Tweetie is a fan. Jeff Tweetie also of Wilcoe also from Chicago.

- Right. - So it makes sense that he would have heard this band,

“but I think in fact, you know how pitchwork”

does that series a song I wish I'd written? - Sure. - He picked one of the songs from "Sold American" from the band's "Sold America." - That's right.

- That's one that he wish he had written. So that's how I know them, but I haven't spent any time with them now. - They're the kind of band where they unintentionally credit alternative country,

which is interesting because Jeff Tweetie is often credited with creating all countries. - Right. - And later, like literally just a few years after with Uncle Tupolo.

So, "Sold American," they stopped, and they kind of like would pop up every now and again,

but they've always been kind of a mysterious duo,

or they start out as a quartet now and it's a duo. And yeah, they're first record in 30 years. It's called "Sanktions." And this is a beautiful song called "Freying Wheels." (gentle piano music)

♪ Three and wheels across the track ♪

♪ There's nothing romantic ♪

♪ We can up to the fact ♪ ♪ Got a good song for out of the case ♪ (gentle piano music) ♪ Three and wheels ♪ ♪ They don't cost much ♪

♪ You're requiring a taste ♪ ♪ There's nothing nobody ♪ ♪ Take away from me ♪ ♪ Got a good song for out of the case ♪ (gentle piano music)

♪ All of it's all around the case ♪

♪ All of it's all around the case ♪

- I really heard Neil Young in this. - Oh, sure. - Something right out of after the gold rush or comes to time, something like that really reminded me of that. - This is, I think this is probably one

of their more accessible songs. - And even so the way that the guitars are triple, even quadruple, tract, and everything is a little out of phase. Everything seems off, like there's a little ram shackle, a little messy.

- Yeah, there's no metronome. - There's like a strange sense of time.

And that's kind of how their music has always existed.

It's music that makes you want to or need to slow down. - Well, it's reconsidering the idea of what it means

“to be free and wild, which that's what I love about it is”

that being free and wild doesn't have to be chaos. It can be quiet and simple and restrained. Something as simple as taking a guitar out of its case to play some music as an act of defiance or living free and wild. - I think you just summed up the entirety of sold American.

(laughing) - Well, it's working for me. I really liked this a lot. And yeah, I hadn't spent any time with them at all. But I read that they've been promising this album

for quite a long time. - Yes, like I think they, in the mid 90s, they were saying like, it's almost done. - It's almost ready.

“- And now we're getting it 30, 30 years later.”

It's absolutely stunning. It's called sanctions and it comes out in April. I'm so ecstatic. - Lars, I was listening back to that songs to calm the nerves episode that you and I did.

- Oh yeah, yeah. - And you said on that episode how you sometimes struggle with pushing away the darkness, finding hope, pushing away the negative thoughts and that's something that you struggle with.

- Yeah. - I've been accused of being polyanic, overly optimistic. It's probably true. I don't feel like I suffer from blind idealism or anything like that.

But I think it's just understanding that the good and the bad can exist at the same time and that all the bad that we see in the world doesn't negate or erase all the good. - Right.

- And I think the trick to being happy is accepting that and understanding that and finding some balance between the two. And I bring this up because there's this really great song out now from Francis of Delirium.

Francis of Delirium is the name of the artist.

“That really, I think, lays this all out so beautifully.”

We can talk more about it after we hear it but the song is called appropriately. It's a beautiful life.

(upbeat music)

“♪ Why isn't the kitchen with the scissors ♪”

♪ Got a hair off turn ♪

♪ And not the apartment ♪

♪ Just a little with you ♪ ♪ The drops all dim close to ♪ ♪ Prussian daisy's man ♪ ♪ I think this heat makes me crazy ♪ ♪ I'm almost stuck in my arms going through ♪

♪ How I'm healing to do more ♪ ♪ Loneliness is bright ♪ ♪ It's a beautiful life ♪ (upbeat music) . (audience cheering)

(upbeat music) ♪ My heart will wire ♪ ♪ Tape roll, oh fire ♪ ♪ Come burn out in my tired ♪ ♪ You see it, I'm just thinking about ♪

♪ You see it, desire ♪ ♪ I'm one of my friends ♪ ♪ Really love to try ♪ ♪ It's a beautiful life ♪ (upbeat music)

- Come on, man, I bet you love that. - Oh yeah, that was given me like a swarim and like super chunk. - Okay, yeah. - Early Charlie Bliss, big fuzzy chunky riffing in the rock. - Yeah, yeah, and so to what I was saying earlier

about sort of finding hope in times of despair, this song rock so hard.

“I think it's kind of thing to get your fists up in the air,”

get your movement, it's super infectious. But there's definitely a thread of melancholy that runs through all of it. Rocking and crying at the same time, absolutely the Rob and Hilton and Vars got rich jam.

There's even a little bit of rage in it too in that bridge. You know, in the bridge, she sings up on a wire, tight rope over fire, I'm burned out and I'm tired and the guitars are starting to gear up a little bit more. There's another subtle thing that happens in it

but I think is really cool. It's easy to miss because it just sounds like a little vocal flourish just for the sake of making the music part a little more interesting. Ha ha ha, the vocals.

- Right, right, right, kind of accents that come in. I see that as laughter. - Oh yeah, but at the same time, we get a little bit at the top of the song, but then there's this kind of like angelic choir situation.

So the first time they do ha ha that's not there

“but the second time the ha ha's and the choir come in, right?”

It was like, okay, there's some dense commentary happening. - Yeah, that's song, yeah, for sure. And I only clocked at this listening to it now, sitting here with you. I heard, I bring out the best in a Robin.

- Yeah, you really do. You really elevate me, elevate the show. Everything you do, just makes everything better, Lars. So Francis of Delirium is an artist based out of Luxembourg, Jena Barrage.

This song, it's a beautiful life

from her second full length album called Run Run Pure Beauty

You said that everything that we are playing

“is kind of polar opposites, but I don't know if that's true.”

We're getting maybe a little bit of a theme. - Yeah. - Maybe not suddenly, but at least thematically,

wherever everybody's trying.

- Everybody's just trying their best, it sounds like. - Yeah.

“- To deal with whatever's happening in the world.”

I don't have like a theory sheet for this next song, but the song is called Somewhere Good. So maybe they're in a similar head space. But the group is called Terracork and Trio, they're based out of Bristol.

They've been around for a minute,

“but I've had to see them perform last year.”

Probably one of my favorite venues in DC that I've mentioned here many times called Ryzo. Terracork and Trio's music is just losing in the wobbly in the right way in the way they sort of have to trust the process. I saw that when they performed,

where I was like, I don't know where this music is going, but I'm glad that I'm here with them on this journey.

And then once they finally get to where the song

is going to be like, oh yes, I feel held. I feel seen, I feel held. So again, this song is Somewhere Good by Terracork and Trio. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]

[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]

[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]

So when you saw them live, did they do this song?

Do you recall?

“No, I think this might have been too early for them to be playing this.”

Oh, Terracork. Yeah, I asked because it has that repeated guitar line. And I would love to know if they were playing that live, or if they just had a looping on a computer or something. I mean, when I saw them, their pedal software

was pretty minimal, which I thought was cool, that they kind of kept everything pretty contained. But it's extreme and hypnotic. And it kind of keeps you off your axis a little bit.

And there's always something that's kind of keeping

you rooted at the same time. I'd love that feeling.

“I mean, that's kind of what that repeated guitar line does.”

And I'm a sucker for that, too. I love a line that is repeated over and over again throughout the entire duration of a song. And this one's long, it's like six minutes. But you never grow tired of it.

You kind of lose track of it at some points. And then you'll kind of tune back into it. And then it'll kind of go away again. And everything else that happens is built around that repeated line. So many unexpected things in this song, too.

Like that little clarinet that comes in is so lovely. And then absolutely the last instrument I would have predicted that they would bring in at that moment. Terraclark and Trio is on a rare US tour right now on their way to the big years festival in Knoxville.

So if you're on the East Coast, I would highly recommend seeing this band. It really takes you out of your orbit in the best possible way. So that song is called Somewhere Good. And the album is called Somewhere Good.

Yeah. And it is out June 5th. So this last one that I want to play, Lars is from an absolute legend. Yeah, a legend, Tori Amis.

This is another one where I absolutely respect the longevity of her music, the importance of her music and her person. I like watching live videos of her.

“I think she's such a fascinating performer.”

But the music has never clicked with me for reasons.

I don't really don't really know why. Well, what you start with, did you was little earthquakes like her thing? So I think that didn't do it. I think I had read like an essay that Am Powers had written about it. I was like, okay, let's go with this in mind.

And I listened to it and I liked it, but it didn't like, it didn't stay with me for whatever reason. I can't tell you how mind blowing that album was when it came out. Nothing sounded like it when she dropped that in 1992. Sure.

I'm tempted to say that it like shook the world. Because I know people were sure of that. They're all with the accidental punishment. But yeah, we're all little earthquakes, I just don't want to do that. But I think that she completely reinvented Piano Pop, rejuvenated it and breathed

She brought this sort of power to it in a way.

I don't know.

“I think without Tori Amis, I'm not sure you get Fiona Apple.”

I'm not sure you get Regina Spector. Yeah. You know, definitely. Absolutely.

And Tori Amis is, she hasn't slowed down at all in all the years since she put out

little earthquakes.

“She is about to release her 18th album, 18th album.”

It's called "In Times of Dragons" and I guess in keeping with my recurring theme of hope and optimism, the song that I want to play from the album is called "Stronger Together."

And it's sometimes a stripped of rights.

Diabolical crimes, we move all about it with an trapped and darkness, but you move all about it as it is, "Pugotory" as it's a stowed of a story, but "Stronger Together." We found you could tackle it, and we could talk about it, and we could cry about it. And we could, and we did, and we could together, and we could, and we did. Now that you're a woman, now that you're a woman, the other night.

And we could, and we did, and we all together, and you do understand, it's okay you'll see. Don't you dare, he is we could, and we did, together, I understand, it was tough, now we're sleeping together. So we're together, so we're on the road together, so we're on the road together, so we're on the road together. And we could, and we did, and we can, together, it's okay, we can face all of this together, and we are stronger, stronger together. It's okay, love your true, the time it is together, together, stronger together, it's okay, we can face all of this together.

I just thought this was so beautiful, I mean, I don't know, I'm a piano player, so I do love piano pop, maybe I'm just a sucker for that.

“I think the thing that I've realized in recent years is that I just don't like piano pop or piano rock.”

Okay, I think a lot of it stems from a long abiding hatred of Billy Joel. Oh man, let's not get ugly here man, I don't get me started about Billy Joel man, I love Billy Joel, I'm going to make you a Billy Joel mixed in. Oh no, I am, and it's not piano man, I promise you that I'll find some stuff that you'll like them, well you, I don't, maybe you won't, but I don't, I think it's because I'm such a guitar guy, I love a guitar, I like synths, but piano, I don't know, when I come, if I'm listening to piano, it's usually a jazz or classical context, unless pop and rock.

This song with, from Tori, it's not like a stride piano, it's not super dumb, it's kind of all in the bass notes that she's playing. It's very atmospheric, it's very atmospheric, it's very atmospheric. So this is a concept album from Tori Amos, again, it is called in times of dragons is out on May 1st.

Okay, and you and I, we've talked about this a lot, we have, but I do think that there are some, it's

“sonnically polar opposite as it is from the Tori Amos. Yes, I think there's actually, they're both sort of”

kind of getting at some of the same themes. I think so, so this is the first record in 10 years by the metal band,

neurosis, it's a record called an undying love for burning world, and it just, it dropped on Friday, completely total surprise, total surprise, there are even some people I saw in the metal world who are like, how did they keep this underlocking key the way that they did? Maybe it's because no one's painting any attention to it. I don't think so. This is a bandrapin, that's been around since

“the late 80s, and has put out several extremely influential records in the metal world. They even”

kind of influenced a whole style of metal that took from doom, metal from sludge, from industrial, from ambient music, but it was all kind of done with a hardcore punk attitude. The band went on a long hideous because it was revealed in 2022 that one of the co-founders, Scott Kelly, what had been let go from the band for domestic abuse against this family. Just absolutely like tragic for everyone. The band had no idea none of the close friends had any idea. He kept a very

close and systematic, and it broke everyone's hearts. I hated writing that newspiece. Because this is a band that has meant a lot to so many people. When the news of this album dropped,

the first question was like, is there another member or if they just do it? They replaced them.

And to be honest, they kind of picked a better person to kind of step into that second guitar role with an air and turner from the metal band Isis and a sum back. And so here's this album that is very much about a band that has gone through the fire. You know, I've only had this record like for like a few days and I've been texting with some friends and like, I don't think this record

“is just good. I think it might actually be great. Like there are some songs in this that are kind of like”

top to your neurosis for me now. And I'm just I'm so glad this band is back because the neurosis

has always been about catharsis and has never shyed away from pain and struggle, but they

understand that the underlying thing that keeps us moving and the thing that you always talk about right Robin is hope. So I don't think I named the song. It's called Untethered and it's by the band Neurosis. Alright, thanks as always Lars. Thanks Robin. It's all songs considered. I'm Robin Hilton. You're listening to NPR Music. Music.

Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music.

(upbeat music)

♪ Seeking in all this show ♪

♪ There's no sky ♪ ♪ There's no future ♪ ♪ No future ♪

♪ There's the right to see ♪

♪ Right to follow the way ♪ ♪ Will you continue ♪ ♪ To see ♪ (upbeat music)