Faster or Greener than Now 7″ by Julie Byrne
Recorded by Owen Ashworth(Advance Base, Casiotone For The Painfully Alone)
Released by Orindal Records
Julie Byrne’s Faster or Greener than Now tessellates the stubble of love-worn weariness with the fragile peach fuzz of an open heart for a brave look at the skin just as the bandage has been taken off. On “Holiday,” Byrne pipes with delicate frankness over beautifully barren guitar wire. Byrne’s hollow-of-the-well voice nestles in sparsity gracefully exposed at the still hand of Owen Ashworth’s tape. Her words come off fresh with embedded stutters: “You, you may, you may tra-avel alone but still be accompanied by-y my love.” Byrne’s decidedly unsentimental delivery gapes into a brilliantly expansive blankness that is capsized by her lyrical tenderness and sincere demeanor; this dichotomy unearths a profound desperation. Byrne yearns for rest but presses on, her estranged temperament whittling and bending, both begging for and radiating the warmth that has created it. “Holiday” alleyways the cat of the highest confidence, affording the experience of hurt that leads to openness.
With “Marmalade” Byrne paddles over a disparate contentment both well-adjusted and forlorn. The dimensions of her empty-room vocalization are as resounding as they are pin-drop quiet. Byrne’s call blends clean over assured yet aware guitar plucks and would fare well in heartache with the likes of Sharon Van Etten. Byrne proves herself a brilliant countertenor and a force to be reckoned with. Even upon departing, Byrne’s reserved pawing keeps us yarn-wrapped and in love with the simple and rested feeling of not having a lot but not needing more.
A little fun fact:
According to the Orindal 7″ page, the title Faster or Greener than Now comes from Frank O’Hara’s “Animals”
ANIMALS
Have you forgotten what we were like then
when we were still first rate
and the day came fat with an apple in its mouth
it's no use worrying about Time
but we did have a few tricks up our sleeves
and turned some sharp corners
the whole pasture looked like our meal
we didn't need speedometers
we could manage cocktails out of ice and water
I wouldn't want to be faster
or greener than now if you were with me O you
were the best of all my days
[1950] "Animals" by Frank O'Hara
*Taken from frankohara.org
Photos and album cover from orindal.limitedrun.com
Audio from soundcloud.com/juliebyrne
Buy Julie Byrne Faster or Greener than Now 7″ and other Orindal releases here
