Week in Pop: Dimples, Nights & Weekends, Winstons

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Candace

The cult of Candace; press photograph courtesy of the band.
The cult of Candace; press photograph courtesy of the band.

Presenting the follow-up to last year’s Teenage Tragedy covers; Portland’s Candace (fka IS/IS) trio of Sarah N., Sarah Rose & Mara deliver the latest installment to celebrate Valentine’s Day 2017 with the Great Basin EP that offers up two covers & the new title track single. Like everything the Candace crew has created over the years, under various monikers, i.e. Web of Sunsets, continues to stitch together a universal sound of love that expands far beyond even the reaches of sea to shining sea.

Candace’s Great Basin begins with a take on Karen Dalton’s “Something’s On Your Mind” where the tragic & beautiful NYC artist’s tune is seamlessly updated through the endlessly intriguing PDX lens that forever points at the limitless potential of future upstarts. Taking on Shoes’ power-pop gem “Do I Get So Shy” tackles the rhetorical question through a jangle-pop lens that explores the tenets & character attributes of introversion. And as Candace contributes new takes on old favorites, the debut of “Great Basin” is the epitome of everything you love about the music from Sarah N., Sarah R. & Mara as their unique take on Americana styles shines forward in an entrancing manner that recalls images of western landscapes & long road trips from the trio’s intuitive perspectives. The result is something that will melt the heart & mind at the same time as Candace stays true to their original creative visions by further finessing an already sophisticated sound that has been continuously, criminally overlooked by the bastions of gate-keeping pop cretins.
“Winter time is always kinda slow going and to not get the blues we wanted to work on some new tunes,” Sarah Rose expressed to us in a recent discussion, “We loved doing our Valentines Day covers last year so it made sense to do that again.” We further discussed Candace’s approaches to covering Karen Dalton’s “Something’s On Your Mind” & Shoes’ “Do I Get So Shy” & our new original favorite of the band’s—”Great Basin”; “On choosing the songs…The Shoes & Karen Dalton have both been inspiring to us but it’s hard to say we exactly why. Just a couple jammers that we love! As for “Great Basin,” we just wrote that song super recently and felt eager to get it out into the world.”