In just a few weeks, Catherine Elicson, leader of the noisy and chaotic Philadelphia indie band Empath, will release River Of Fat, her first-ever solo album. A couple of weeks, ago, Elicson shared the delicate, gorgeous lead single "Figure." Today, she's got two more tracks, and they don't sound anything like that one.
Elicson recorded River Of Fat on a four-track, and she played all the instruments — guitar, synth, sampler — on her own. "I'm On Fire," one of her new songs, is a triumphantly oblique rocker that's somehow not a Bruce Springsteen cover. "All Sound," the other, is a playfully hazy quasi-instrumental that has Elicson sighing wordlessly over her own liquid guitar improvisations. Along with the studio versions of both tracks, Elicson has also shared a live video where she uses a whole lot of loops and pedals for a solo outdoor performance of "I'm On Fire."
In a press release, Elicson says:
"I’m On Fire" is a song about feeling trapped in your internal world and the void that creates. It has a meditative quality to it; I like to get lost in the repetitive heaviness. The video was shot on a friend’s cedar tree farm in New Jersey by my girlfriend Halle Ballard and bandmate Johnny Costa. I rented a generator from Home Depot and played the song as the sun set. Shaun Sutkus, who also recorded the album, captured the live sound.
"All Sound" is built entirely on improvised guitar and vocals. I wanted to preserve the song’s intuitive, unedited energy, so I deliberately kept the little imperfections in. It has a levity that breaks up some of the heavier moments on the album.
Below, check out both of those tracks, as well as the live "I'm On Fire" video.
River Of Fat is out 11/6 on Community Music.