Haley Fohr’s music strikes a unique balance between the personal and universal. As Circuit des Yeux, she creates music that embodies the complexity of human emotions. Fohr’s new project, Jackie Lynn, finds her creating an entirely new persona for herself, the mysterious “Jackie Lynn.” The album tells the story of this intriguing character, drawing on the real-life experience of Fohr as a rising singer, songwriter, and performer. Jackie Lynn is out June 10, 2016.
(Photo credit: Julia Dratel)
INSTRUCTIONS: THIS ESSAY IS MEANT TO BE READ IN TANDEM WITH THE PROVIDED PLAYLIST. PLEASE DO NOT CONTINUE ON TO THE NEXT NUMBER UNTIL THE CORRESPONDING TRACK HAS BEEN COMPLETED. FEEL FREE TO REREAD EACH PASSAGE THROUGHOUT THE ASSIGNED SONG.
Pitchfork 2016: A Lucid Essay Based on True Events:
The following essay is based on life events experienced with the following artists featured at Pitchfork Festival 2016:
Jenny Hval: 2015 June European tour
Julia Holter: 2016 January/February U.S. tour
Kevin Morby & Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood): January 2015 compound crash zone[i]
Pre-Whitney/Smith Westerns: BDBiz barbecues 2011[ii]
Girl Band: 2015 Mucho Flow Fest after party with DJ Quesadilla
Beach House: 2016 Secret Pastrami Sandwich[iii]
Sun Ra Arkestra: 2015 Jay Pritzker Pavilion performance
Dear Doctor,
I will need five refills please, for I am going on tour until
the sun goes down, and it’s 1 a.m. in Copenhagen
can’t you see the Sun is still shining on this evening in June
surely it will never go down while Paul Simon’s “Graceland” plays
over the Jazzhouse I sip my whiskey and move my hips, Jenny
is jumping four feet in the air (1), while Zia finds the real spotlight, the mountain’s
shadow that you can only find in Portland at 7 a.m. I caught it once with
Julia in our big long black van named Debora. Your head was so fuzzy back then
“Sure, you can have my Scott Walker”
I will trade you “The Electrician” for “Duchess” (2) over a pastrami sandwich
next to a Beach House heading for Montreal in the rain riding a dust wave that
reads “I <3 Steely Dan” (3), which is true, because everyone is in love, with
everyone
all the time
100 women in love
100 women in love
100 women in love with one man, sure
you can sleep on my soiled couch
it is the only way that friends are made, Kevin, and you have the potential for a friend.
Moisten your throat and avoid the bubbles, ‘all my time is lying on the factory floor’ (4)
but never forget to dance, if you find yourself in Porto, Portugal, sipping young wine from a gasoline
can
you may find yourself in a Girl Band or just “Fucking deadly” (5) in your own memory
of a time before when business
was
dirty, and Whitney wasn’t born yet, take the Smith
out of Western and add two turntables, on one Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock” will play,
on the other, a plush crocodile spins around and around (6). But it was the year of the horse. (7)
Which sound is true? The
truest sound can only be found when you’re ninety, and you’ve lived what you knew,
only then will you find yourself home again, back in Chicago, laying on the green grass
with your legs stretched out in a V looking up at a big screen where they sparkle and sheen
at ninety, that’s when you’ll know, how to really celebrate (8).
So you see, I will need five refills please.
With regards,
Circuit des Yeux
Come piece together the puzzle and relive the memories by seeing these great musicians perform this coming weekend at Pitchfork Festival, 2016.
Memory Track List:
(1) Paul Simon: “I Know What I Know”
(2) Scott Walker: “Duchess” & “The Electrician”
(3) Steely Dan: “Aja”
(4) Bill Fay: “I Hear You Calling”
(5) Chaka Khan: “I Feel for You”
(6) Elton John: “Crocodile Rock”
(7) Q Lazzarus: “Goodbye Horses”
(8) Marshall Allen Shredding
[i] Compound was my home for two years. In Plain Speech and the new Jackie Lynn record were conceived here. Many, many bands and friends have crashed here, including Kevin Morby, Weyes Blood, Daniel Bachman, Itasca, etc.
[ii] Between 2008 and 2010, members of the Smith Westerns and I hung with a guy named BDBiz (from “Brian’s Dirty Business”), who was considered “the fifth member of the Smith Westerns.” We would have summertime BBQs in Logan Square, Chicago, accompanied by amateur DJ hour.
[iii] Julia Holter and I ran into Beach House in February while they were on their way to Montreal and we were heading into Connecticut. We ate these huge pastrami sandwiches and didn’t talk about much, other than our travels and Steely Dan.
