Twin Peaks – “St. Vulgar St.” & “Cawfee”
Today brings two tracks from Twin Peaks. Since dropping their Lookout Low album last year, the relentlessly prolific Chicago rockers have shared the lovely one-off “Our World” and a cover of Wilco’s “Spiders (Kidsmoke).” Today’s pair of songs, which arrive with fun karaoke-themed lyric videos Twin Peaks associate James Swanberg, continue their mastery of ’70s Stones-style countrified rock ‘n’ roll.
The band’s Cadien Lake James has this to say about the visuals:
The accompanying lyric videos were a rather last minute idea meant to answer the question “is there any way for a lyric video to not be dumb?” Lyric videos are funny because they ride this weird line where if it’s too simple, say text on a screen, it’s boring, but it’s not meant to be too nice — the stakes are meant to be lower. Our friend James Swanberg is an incredible performer and a scene figure, and it occurred to us it might be funny to have him try to karaoke the songs without really knowing them. He did great!
So what’s Swanberg singing here? “St. Vulgar St.” is a rowdy barroom howl-along that’s also giving me notes of the Pogues and Black Lips. Its gang chorus is destined to be a crowd-pleaser at many Twin Peaks shows to come: “And all you wealthy folks/ You drink your wine and you tell your jokes/ You sermonize but you don’t know/ What it’s like to live below.” The other, “Cawfee,” is an easy groove that shows off the group’s guitar prowess and seems to be about the time-honored subject of lovin’ ‘em and leavin’ ‘em.
These tunes are extremely fun and charming, and together they’ll add up to a great 7″ upon release next month. In the meantime, you can hear them below via the aforementioned lyric videos.
“Cawfee” b/w/ “St. Vulgar St.” is out 2/14. Pre-order it here.