Slow Sky
	Produced by Charlie Baldonado
	Released on March 1, 1994
	no chart information
	Find it at GEMM
10321-2 cover [high resolution scan]

K ronomyth 4.0: FOURTH DOWNY AND LONG. In the annals of rock band monikers, “downy mildew” is a real stinker, like the Native American equivalent of “Walks With Wedgie.” I would have walked in the other direction but for Trouser Press; a book that has paid for itself several times over by molding my opinion on such matters as badly named bands that sound better than you’d think. Slow Sky and I became fast friends. The airy, intelligent “Your Blue Eye” is what I would have expected from a Canadian band on 4AD: dreamy and unconventional pop at once ethereal and richly tangible. (Yes, I used the word “ethereal” after calling it “airy” because I figured Airy needed a friend.) The fulcrum of the band’s fourth album sits at the intersection of Charlie Baldonado (the band’s primary songwriter and secondary singer) and Jenny Homer (the inverse). For many listeners, Homer’s voice is the main attraction: light, lithe, bittersweet but never sour, similar to (but not a copy of) Natalie Merchant and the female folk-rock singers of the 90s. (Baldonado takes lead vocals on a few tracks, and he can keep them.) For me, while the vocals are an integral part, I’m in love with the music of Slow Sky, which feels like a cross between folky jangle pop and The Smiths (“Left Foot Down,” “Them That Dream,” “Girls By The Lake”). Slow Sky is a band hitting its stride, so it’s a shame they didn’t release anything else after. I’m sure the low-key label didn’t help; I don’t even recall seeing a single from Slow Sky let alone a video. Trouser Press is the great leveller, though, where past failures are forgotten and small victories remembered, no matter how fleeting. Like a comfortable pair of blue jeans, or a bleary-eyed writer who couldn’t produce a decent analogy if prompted with a hot fireplace poker, Slow Sky fits my frame of mind when I’m only willing to dangle one foot in airy witchery while keeping the other planted in earthiness.

TRACK LISTING

1. YOUR BLUE EYE    3:16
2. LEFT FOOT DOWN    4:18
3. RELEASE    (Charlie Baldonado)    4:30
4. A POLKA DOT-SCARVED WOMAN    3:34
5. GIRLS BY THE LAKE    5:49
6. A LIAR NEEDS A GOOD MEMORY    (Charlie Baldonado)    4:18
7. THAT HE WROTE    4:26
8. THEM THAT DREAM    3:36
9. MACHINE    4:03
10. SIDEWINDING HOME    (Charlie Baldonado)    4:09
11. DON'T CHANGE YOUR MIND    3:53
12. I REMEMBER YESTERDAY    (Charlie Baldonado)    2:26
    
    All songs written by Charlie Baldonado and Jenny Homer unless noted

CREDITS

CHARLIE BALDONADO -- guitars, vocals, bass, keyboard, engineer
JANINE COOPER -- bass, backing vocals, tape op
SALVADOR GARZA -- violin, string arrangements
JENNY HOMER -- vocals, guitar
ROB JACOBS -- drums, percussion, accordion
Greg Adamson -- cello
James Brenner -- stand-up and bowed bass
J'Anna Jacoby -- violin
Benedicte Villain -- violin
Tchad Blake -- mixing
Catherine Lorenz -- graphic design, still life photography
Marina Chavez -- band photography

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