Untitled / Videos
[Untitled] w/ Lara Americo, Episode 4, Part I
PostedByLara Americo
on Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 11:29 AM
I met with the duo Bless These Sounds Under the City, a self-proclaimed “electric folk soulful pop band,” while the Panthers played the Green Bay Packers this past November. The television blared in the living room of their ranch home in Charlotte.
“Can you keep track of the game?” asked percussionist and vocalist Derrick Hines, walking into his home studio for our filming session. Associate producer of Untitled Joanne Spataro nodded and went into the living room to watch the game for him.
Meanwhile, singer/multi-instrumentalist Albert Strawn prepared for his performance and talked about future touring plans. “Even people at the top, they talk about their stories about how they slept in alleyways and lived on busses,” he says. While the musicians are hungry to be full-time independent artists, yet they are split on whether that means temporarily living inside of a van while they tour the U.S. for long periods of time.
“As much as I love being on the road, [and] I freaking love the road, I can’t go out for nothing,” says Derrick ,who has a teenage son that often lives with the duo.
The differences between the two musicians extend beyond their desired living situations. Strawn’s falsetto vocals are haunting when paired with the eerie sounds of a glockenspiel played with a bow. Hines’ vocalscould be compared to R&B artists such as Brian McKnight or D’Angelo . Together the two create an ephemeral, listening experience that breaks your heart and stitches it back together all in one listen.