Title: Stay
Format: 7" Single
Label: Drag City / Palace Records
Catalogue Number: DC422 / PR43
Year of Release: 2009
Tracklisting
A Stay
B People Living
Two cover versions of songs from Susanna Wallumrod's 2007 album Sonata Mix Dwarf Cosmos (Susanna herself is on the 2009 Tour 7" Forever and Ever). The first song features Bonnie-collaborator-since-2006 Emmett Kelly alongside Joshua Abrams, Jennifer Hutt and Michael Zerang, who worked with Bonnie on Beware. This track was recorded in a studio. The second is Emmett again, with Cheyenne Mize, with whom Bonnie recorded the recent Among The Gold EP, and is an anonymous live recording.
The B-side's low production values affected my enjoyment of the song, which I think is a touching ballad about people living on the fringes of society, but it's hard to tell as the song is so drenched in the natural echo of whichever venue it was recorded in. This adds a haunting quality to the guitar and violin parts, but muddies the vocals terribly.
The A-side is much better. An atmospheric sparse picked guitar line with shuffling waltz-time drums open things, and Bonnie croons about how hard it is to live a lie, and the chorus:
I've been waiting for a reason to stay
Will it come, will it come today
I'm going stay this time
Stay this time
Stay right here with you
A violin part enters before the second verse, about how hard it is to leave something behind that you've put a lot of effort in to; then the chorus is repeated twice.
I don't think this track would be out of place on Beware - the sentiments are similar, the lyrics similarly vague, but the instrumental backing is sparser and more affecting. Also, there is something about it being released as a single that makes you pay more attention to the content, rather than it being lost in a collection of 13 so-so songs. Therefore - recommended.
