I have a routine when it comes to shows at Rough Trade. I enjoy a short train ride on the L from my office. I stop at Vinnie’s for a slice and slowly meander down 9th Street in Williamsburg. I peruse the stacks, including the bargain bins. I say hello to the doorman and security guards. I order a Sixpoint IPA. And I settle in for a fantastic show.
These things are amazing. And they aren’t likely to change for some time. But every now and then we need some disruption. Every now and then we might need a wake up call, or a call to action. We might need be stirred to some involvement.
While this is not explicitly the hope of Loamlands first record, Sweet High Rise, Loamlands understands this.
I posed the question to Kym Register, songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist in Loamlands, during our chat on Tuesday December 6th at Rough Trade. It was the first stop on a mini three-day tour supporting Futurebirds.
I inquired, “What do you want people to take away from this album? Is it a call to action?”
And after a moment to acknowledge the question, Kym responded: “This record feels like the beginning of something like that. This record is an exploration of like what it means to make the personal political and to make the political personal. “
And imagine if everyone tried to make the personal political, and the political personal. It feels like something we should all be doing. That we should be active. Kym notes that we’re “entering a political world that needs a lot of people involved in it,” ready to take action.
In prior interviews, Kym has talked about how Sweet High Rise refers to the changes in Durham, North Carolina, where the band is based.
But maybe, just maybe, outside of that context, it could refer to a sweet rise, a sweet awareness, and a sweet exploration. A rise of the political consciousness. A rise of exploration. A rise of humanity.
And in order to have that rise, we need stories more than ever.
Loamlands understands this.
Loamlands has captured important messages and stories, and mixed them and masked in catchy southern folk rock; scattered poignant truths hiding in plain sight amongst catchy rhythms and guitar riffs.
During the sexy guitar riffs and echoes of “Little River,” Kym asks, “How can a story be told when nobody knows that two boys died for this?” It’s pain amongst energy; it’s exploration and excavation.
Everyone has some sort of pain. The pain is different, but it’s still pain, and it’s possible to unite us through struggle. “Writing a political song is historically difficult,” Kym notes. “As a white human and as a person who grew up middle class, who am I to talk about the world, and struggle?” But, “everyone’s struggle is legit and there’s common ground in struggle that we can all tap into.”
Common ground in struggle. If struggle always resulted in something like Sweet High Rise, perhaps more of us would do it. Perhaps more of us should.
Just one week before seeing Loamlands, I saw one of Kym’s idols, Stevie Nicks, take the stage at Madison Square Garden. Kym’s shoulder is adorned with three of her idols, including Stevie Nicks, and it’s featured on the cover of Sweet High Rise.
During her 24 Karat Gold set, Stevie Nicks bust out a lesser known song called New Orleans, a tune crafted while watching Katrina’s wrath from Malibu, a song developed in viewing struggle. In that raspy unique Stevie-esque voice, alongside an acoustic guitar, Stevie shares:
Well, the people hope
That their lives will get better
The people hope
That their lives will get better
Perhaps, it’s through the common ground of struggle. Maybe, through the common grounds of struggle, we have a sweet high rise of our own.
And, Loamlands understands this.
