Olympia bands Letters (who we’ve covered several times before) and Poppet have released a new split cassette tape, and they sent me a copy to enjoy. Being that I don’t get too many cassettes, I figured it was time again for a Cover Art piece.
Of Letters, we are familiar. In fact, a band member’s relatives live next door.
Letters’ folk is one undoubtedly lo-fi, signature with a strong predilection toward a heavy yet downplayed beat, a swagger in both vocals and instrumentation. On their side, Letters cover everyone from Poppet and Diane Cluck to Sheryl Crow and Sam Cooke.
Poppet is new to us, but their sound belongs very much to their Olympia hometown. The moniker of California-raised Molly Raney, Poppet’s music is eclectic, eccentric and lo-fi as only one calling Olympia home can manage. Weird pop songs, Poppet blends lo-fi, dream pop, and experimental pop. Her songs take an artist like TuNe-YaRdS and make them normal.
It takes a certain sort of genius to accomplish that. I’ve included a few tracks below for sampling purposes. Grab your own copy of the cassette from Ms. Valerie Park Distro.
Listen: “Yr Million Sweets (Diane Cluck cover)” by Letters
[audio:120426-letters-yr-million-sweets.mp3|titles=Yr Million Sweets (Diane Cluck Cover)|artists=Letters]
Listen: “Interjection from the Sad Violins” by Poppet
[audio:120426-poppet-interjection-from-the-sad-violins.mp3|titles=Interjection From The Sad Violins|artists=Poppet]