I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and certain habits - such as pontificating on the rightness of good coffee, and cultivating collections of obscure, moody music - die hard. And so I'm gonna be pretentious for a tad second and talk about this grungy, garage rock band I kind of love. I found the Crystal Stilts by accident back in the day of MySpace band pages (is that still a thing?) and instantly fell in love.
Because a minimalist moodscape of a song? Yes please! Carrie Brownstein thinks so, too. From their bio: Pleasingly distilled in celestial darkness, floating in a sea of color drenched dreams, and grounded in protean mythology.
Yes. That.
So naturally, when it came time for me to visit one of my best friends in NYC for the first time, I took into consideration that the Crystal Stilts hail from Brooklyn. I hadn't seen any news that they were touring, so I hoped that maybe they were still actively playing the home circuit. Turns out that they were, and that there would be a show during the approximate time I wanted to visit. So did I plan my trip around seeing them live? Maybe. Very possibly. Yes.
May 2010
Everything I heard in and loved about their sound was present and on point during their live set. If that wasn't enough, can we talk about that set-up? Bunched-up tulle lit up to look like fantastically low-hanging storm clouds during a stormy, magical night? WHAT PERFECT.
I shimmied, I fan girl-ed, and I desperately scanned the joint for a merch table. The opening act had T-shirts for sale - where my Stilts shirts be? My boyfriend really enjoys this band a lot, and since he wasn't able to join me in New York, he'd asked me to pick him up a shirt from the show. Look as though I might, I couldn't find anything for sale.
After the show, my friend convinced me to ask them about it, so I approached this guy right here - his name is Kyle. When I explained to him that I flew in from Texas just for this show - my boyfriend back in Texas loooooves you guys - did I mention I came from Texas?, he ducked away to consort with his bandmates. They seemed thoroughly amused by my request. Finally, Kyle approached me to let me know that they didn't have anything currently, but if I wanted to email them, they would mail me something as soon as they had it.
Kyle
Satisfied, and brimming all over with tipsy magic, my friend and I retired outside to the sidewalk so that she could smoke a cigarette, and we watched as a young couple stumbled out of the back of a limo clutching 40z in paper bags, saluting us with a smile as they headed inside. That same couple later dubbed us Ocean Eyes (my friend) and Number 11 (me) after we participated in a dance-off for a $100 prize; even later than that, they linked up arms with us and took us on a long walk to find something to eat at 4 AM in Brooklyn.
Whoever says that New Yorkers aren't friendly isn't doing it right.
I left New York the next day, but I was still intent on following through. I sent an email to the address that Kyle had provided, and heard back pretty promptly:
ME: I came out to your show at the Glasslands on May...15th? I don't know if he remembers
or not but I spoke with the keyboardist Kyle shortly about you guys having shirts, records, albums,
anything! In any case, he told me to email y'all about it.
CRYSTAL STILTS: Hey Kirsten, this is Kyle, that keyboardist, here. No merch news, but I
promise when we do make new shirts I will let you know and send you some stuff in the mail. You
just have to send something back from Texas. Cowboy boots? BBQ sauce?
Clearly, this is the stuff of fan girl dreams. The communication stopped at this point (though it's really too bad - I would have loved to send them all novelty sheriff's badges), but the wider conversation seemed to kind of...continue? The show and email exchange took place in 2010, and in 2011 they released a new album - called Radiant Door - featuring the track embedded at the top of this post. At first listen, it didn't quite catch my attention, but the more I listened the more stoked I was.
See, the Stilts had almost exclusively released spacey garage rock before this point (if you'd like to know what they sounded like before, this track should give you a pretty good idea.). But in Still as the Night, we have a stiff shot of righteous twang - a dusty, epic journey by horseback across a moonlit plain, ambling toward an uncertain sunrise. Here we have Johnny Cash. Here we have a track that sounds like it belongs in every Quentin Tarantino film released in the last 20 years.
Sounds like cowboy boots and BBQ sauce to me!
I won't claim to be responsible for this shift in their sound (but hey, I DID let them know they had a Texan audience), or even to be the full inspiration (y'know, just partial) - but I do love how it fits so neatly into the narrative of that night, and of my affinity to their music. All of us have songs that are close to our hearts, and I know we all have stories about them. Tell me yours?
still as the night
cold as the wind
a fool in love
can never win
I can't forget
I can't be free
until she's back
my heart will be
still as the night
xo,
Kirsten
I definitely think you need to reply with a followup email. I bet he remembers. You need your SHIRTS.
ReplyDelete