“Jubilant, simmering vocals poised with softened rhythms and a humming Wurlitzer”
Singer and multi-instrumentalist Jesse Cafiero has the soft, playful quality one finds on a beach somewhere. Golden, brushed rhythms and gliding electric guitars, a murmuring Wurlitzer offers a soft union that echoes early Wallflowers. Even Cafiero has the dampened, matured vocal swings as Jakob Dylan, but the throbbing, bleak textures one finds on a Menomena release.
The title track, “The Sinner,” murmurs yesteryear Americana. Cafiero’s unhurried soft cadence, “You’re just a sinner / waiting for the saints to lie / you can try all you want / you’ll never survive / all these details at your side / can you feel the pain.” An electric guitar swirls out a melody as the chorus abuts, “And the leaves are falling down,” sings Cafiero.
The B-Side, “Meeker Hollow,” begins with a sample from an iconic ’50s video of a housewife reacting to an LSD experience, a nod to Cafiero’s psychedelic folk grounding. A colorfully chorded piano melody grows with a string accompaniment swelling to a crescendo.
Split Screens has yet to embark on a full-length LP, but the Sinner single (limited to 150 copies) alludes to an earnest possibility for an ambitious, transcendental and highly listenable full-length on the horizon.
The Sinner b/w Meeker Hollow
San Francisco, CA
(Name Drop Swamp Records)
Recorded at Coyote Hearing Studios, Oakland by Jeremy Black
Mastered at Magic Garden Mastering, Los Angeles by Brian Lucey
Produced by Split Screens
Size: 7-inch
Speed: 45 rpm
Color: marbled vinyl
Units Pressed: 150
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