Video: Kyle Craft – “Broken Mirror Pose”

From Showboat Honey, due July 12 on Sub Pop.

I’m not sure what it is about this video that has me all in a bunch, but GOT DAMN if this song isn’t stuck in my head for days on end. Maybe it’s the balance of danger and fun the song elicits? I mean, it has a pretty ominous rhythm part juxtaposed with one of the most sing-song-y choruses of the summer jam season.

Balance, it seems, is a point of order for Craft as his bio says, “This is basically an album centered around bad luck and good fortune hitting at the same time,” Craft explains “Then, out of nowhere, I find love. Everything went to shit except that. I guess that’s how life works.”

The idea of bad luck and good fortune is particularly interesting to me as my closest friends and I just went through a year of a father dying. My friend’s dad, Bill, played a pivotal role in our lives, but one that was as gentle and “hands-off” as you can possibly imagine. He was a quiet presence, but a profound one in our lives. And as he was going through the process of dying, he had a constant refrain: “It is what it is.” He had the bad luck of getting brain cancer, but the good fortune of 75 years of great health and living life to the fullest. That’s a pretty good end result, really.

So this song kinda mystifies me. There are strange qualities that are hard to describe, and it’s driving me crazy. Maybe I should stop trying to figure it out and just accept it for what it is? Maybe I should just let it be? Maybe, after all, it just is what it is?

Kyle Craft: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Video: Kyle Craft – “The Rager”

From Full Circle Nightmare, out February 2 on Sub Pop.

Wow. This is really good. Way more Americana than anything I’d expect from Sub Pop. If you dig Heartbreaker — and who doesn’t? — you should check out this song for sure.

I don’t know much about Kyle Craft other than what it says in the press release, but I’m going to start paying attention.

Craft says, “My friend Alyssa portrays a tragic heroine who is delivering what will be her last performance. As she takes the stage, the audience is totally indifferent to her presence. In the song, she’s human; however, in the video, she represents something more. A beautiful idea, rock ‘n’ roll, our country, something dying… whatever it is you want that idea to be, that’s the character she plays here.”

Kyle Craft: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.