David Nance – “Hit Me From Behind”
Nance strikes again with a killer Bandcamp Friday tape that slides under the collective radar, but snags the right ears every time. A bump up from the backyard bliss of his last offering, though still offered up as he so winkingly puts it, “in fried mono.” Wet Candles picks up on his long running covers endeavor — having previously dipped into the catalogs of Doug Sahm, The Beatles, and Lou Reed. This time he transforms Melanie’s 1970 record Candles In The Rain (see what he did there?). Like the title change itself, the track titles are shrouded. Maybe its for copyright reasons, maybe its just a fun inside joke — the new titles are all ripped from the lyrics in some way — but despite the unlikely source material, Nance turns Melanie’s record inside out.
Perhaps inspired by Strapping Fieldhands’ own ecstatic cover of the title track, Nance finds the fury and bitter blues simmering underneath her post-Woodstock soft folk flower. Any track here is a prime example of how Nance has blistered whimsy in the sun, but I’m particularly drawn to the fuzz-booze bake he’s applied to “Carolina in the Sun,” here scrubbed and given the tag “Hit Me From Behind.” Nance just about looses the limber groove, and even admits it at one point, but it just adds to the shaggy charm he hangs on this usually saccharine song. Another essential from Nance’s seemingly unstoppable run of late.
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