Brendan Codey, “A Well Made Box (Parts 1 & 2)”

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Spring is only two days away, but it feels like it may never come. The weather is grey, drizzly, and cold; the daydrinking has started but the clouds still hang and it seems that now more than ever we're spending days under the covers, wondering when the goddamn warmer weather will show its face. Imagine my contentment then when I heard this Brendan Codey song, “A Well Made Box (Parts 1 & 2),” a B-side for his recently released tape, Twin Chimney. It's just under nine minutes long, and it drags like a slow-motion cigarette in a black-and-white film. The tone of the guitar is so clean and delicate, it's a Nancy Sinatra meets Jeff Buckley wet dream. And if it sounds like I'm talking nonsense, it's because this song makes a person feel things, the things that make you not want to get out of bed, to not care if it's Spring yet. Codey's voice is pleading and earnest, but everything is recorded with such a light touch and so attentively that at 5:50, when the guitar rings out like a syrupy bell, it feels like an awakening. An awakening reminiscent of Spring.

Codey's latest tape, Twin Chimney, is out now on Marmara Records and you can get it here.