When The Work Is Done

Eagle & Talon “Hot Caught”

Even when “Hot Caught” is simmering, it feels like it’s at a full boil. Every second of the song is filled with passion, impatience, and anxiety, and so it’s really just a matter of degree from moment to moment. The women of Eagle & Talon control their tension like experts, or at least like musicians who learned all the right lessons from listening to old Sleater-Kinney albums. Unlike Sleater-Kinney, Eagle & Talon’s songs seem to come from a less self-assured and forthright place, and so the torrid intensity is paired with a sense of doubt and indecision, which makes it seem as though they could just as easily torch the world around them or self-immolate.

Buy it from Eagle & Talon.

Cale Parks “A Long Time In The Air”

Usually it seems that adding more instrumental elements will make a song feel more dense, but it works the other way around in this composition. As it begins, the bass line sounds thick and somewhat languorous up against the beat, but each new element that enters along the way eases the tension. By the time a hooky synth motif comes along around the halfway point, the track feels light, relaxed, and spacious. It’s like putting on layers of clothing in order to feel naked.

Buy it from Polyvinyl Records.