Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s selection, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Solitude” by Stagnant Pools from the 2012 album Temporary Room on Polyvinyl.
One guitar, one drum kit, and one day in the studio – that was all Stagnant Pools needed to record their debut album, Temporary Room. After releasing the record in August, brothers Bryan and Douglass Enas left their college town of Bloomington, IN – home to Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music – to tour with School of Seven Bells, Lotus Plaza, Maximo Park, and Bad Veins. The duo have earned quite a few Joy Division comparisons, and while a bassist is an obvious missing component, Bryan’s baritone voice sounds as haunting and forlorn as Ian Curtis’s at times. And like “Isolation,” from Joy Division’s 1980 album Closer, “Solitude” isn’t about loneliness per se, but rather the claustrophobic sensation of being watched by others.
Stagnant Pools will be hitting the road with former Pedro the Lion frontman David Bazan this fall and will end their series of North American shows at the Neptune Theatre on December 15. Visit their website for additional tour info, and check out the video for “Solitude” below.
