Creeping Pink
Glass Castle [CS; Medium Sound]

When I think of Landon Caldwell, I’m reminded of of Rusty James. A man of immense talent, doing what he can to make it work in the Midwest without much luck. Living in the shadow of something he couldn’t escape, likely because he loved it too much. But the earwig was telling him to go west, to seek something greater. So that’s what he did, and while out west he became one with the Burnt Ones and founded his inner Creeping Pink. He returned from the ocean paradise, because rather than bask in the endless summer, he preferred to bring it back to the land of dreary prospects. But it turns out Indiana isn’t so damp and dusky. Glass Castle is the latest Creeping Pink release, sharing a sound both mid and western. “Games” is distinctly futuristic, pointing toward the land of milk, honey, and opportunity. It is a place where the sun shines and never sets, energizing a metropolis of go-getters living in harmony. “Fire on the River,” however, feels like counterculture soul ; the Jackson Five placed in robotic infrastructures to show new generations what love and wanting sounded like. No one has set the Wabash on fire like the Cuyahoga, but Caldwell gives it the ol’ college try. “The Country Has Not Changed” is clearly stuck in the middle — Caldwell moving back east but longing for that coastal life. But he brings it back with him, though the results are warped at best. It is the sound of strangers in a strange land, even if that’s a stop over for grub in the middle of the heartland. But it’s a start, and better than leaving the black and white life behind for only technicolor skies. Glass Castle is Americana, if you accept that such a concept is what happens when the melting pot is allowed to boil and topple over, spilling all across our great land. Thankfully Caldwell captured a few drops to make sure they provided needed water for the Midwest.

Cerberus

Cerberus seeks to document the spate of home recorders and backyard labels pressing limited-run LPs, 7-inches, cassettes, and objet d’art with unique packaging and unknown sound. We love everything about the overlooked or unappreciated. If you feel you fit such a category, email us here.

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