What wins me over about this free release is not the airy guitar and varying vocal timbre throughout each of the six tracks. It's the writer in me, desperately swooning at the inclusion of a .pdf laying out the lyrics like a poem, broken only by titles and reflective phrases and images expressing John's mood:
"A father so domineering and imperious, he's even intimidating on the embalming slab."
"When
you're
home
from
tour
and
the
night
is
painfully
quiet
and
still,
your
bedroom
window
frosted
with
fog,
jump
in
your
car
and
just
drive:
280
S,
80W
to
Sacramento,
101
N,
it
doesn't
really
matter."
"A
letter
of
apology
to
a
long
lost,
unfinished
stamp
collection,
buried
deep
in
my
mom's
basement."
Hear the ominous "Lay Down" above, then head to John Vanderslice's website to download the Green Grow the Rushes EP.
John is also playing three shows in California this weekend to support the EP, so if you're in or around Upland, Stockton or Petaluma, check him out!