Little Wings
Soft Pow'r

Rad Records 2007

By Zach Stephenson

Artist Kyle Field’s latest output continues to shed the poppier arrangements of 2002’s Light Green Leaves for a sentimental crooning that goes down well with a pocketful of whiskey. It seems odd without the usual Jim Jones-ish stamp of K Records, as Calvin Johnson’s offbeat kilter still seems to buzz throughout the shadows of Soft Pow’r. The album is the first to be released on the Marriage imprint, Rad Records, a likely home considering Marriage’s line-up of past and current Little Wings contributors that include members of Dirty Projectors, White Rainbow, and Jona Bechtolt aka YACHT.

Often compared to Will Oldham, Soft Pow’r concedes more towards what Modest Mouse strived to be in the ‘90s, minus the indie effrontery. Kyle Field offers the stranded ramblings of a world traveler, scribing ballads through loose associations that seem intensely personal, allowing him to push past the fine line that separates good songwriting from the overplayed, pretentious dribble that flows so pungently from singers that label themselves as “artists.”

Maybe it’s because Little Wings seems like a tidy side project compared to Field’s love for creating artwork. The band has no official website, just a link alongside his drawings and gallery appearances. There is a bare Myspace page, amounting to a fan site that still barely acknowledges the group’s existence. It is a far cry from someone longing to be a contender in the sprawling clutter of the indie blog circuit.

Soft Pow’r doesn’t feel indie at all. It is loyal to the footnote carols from the golden era of country and western. Lyrics like, “It seems as if no one and nothing is here / But I see a small shadow there in the mirror,” gallop over elegantly dissonant, acoustic linings, belying a self-aware alienation that’s hard to forge without first-hand experience.

Field waives Little Wings as a faceless anomaly in an era of digital overload and artificial intentions. The record is far from flawless, but seems determined to present itself as a welcomed escape to our times, even as many of its contributors gather a good deal of steam in the system. Maybe we should all sit back and take notes.

This discourse of Little Wings' Soft Pow'r is written by Zach Stephenson for ignore Magazine, copyright 2007.