![Fetching Pails Spooks Enchantingly in ‘Shearer’ [Fresh Vid]](https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/nashvillescene.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/51/451f1765-b042-558f-8393-df1bf6d5cd25/60027ab2e406f.image.png?resize=400%2C269)
"Shearer" by Fetching Pails
Order the debut album, Telekinesis for Beginners, on Ghostly Cyan vinyl (a YK Records release): https://fetchingpails.bandcamp.com/merch
Video by: Jill Townsend
All music and recordings by: Jill Townsend, Nashville, TN
(except for drums by Angela Lese/Keio Stroud, Nashville, TN)
Mixing: J Clive at Classy About Reality, Nashville, TN
Follow me:
https://www.instagram.com/fetchingpails
https://www.facebook.com/fetchingpails
https://fetchingpails.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/fetchingpails
----
If Nashville singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jill Townsend could fulfill her dream of moving things with her mind, Fetching Pails’ debut Telekinesis for Beginners would have been created seemingly out of thin air. Rather, given the obvious impossibilities, her fingerprints cover it from top to bottom. After years spent in bands and one-off side projects, while simultaneously toiling away on home recordings in secret, Townsend brings forth Telekinesis, which documents her final stages of metamorphosis into a fully realized musician and producer born from a cocoon of her own making.
Longtime fans of local music will recognize Townsend’s presence in the local scene as far back as the late aughts Murfreesboro upstarts Bent Fur to acclaimed indie synth-pop ensemble Nightblonde. That, along with contributions to a handful of tribute bands and assembling the acclaimed Rocky Horror Rock ’n Roll Show, culminates into an eclectic journey and subsequent evolution that’s all the more overwhelming when brought front and center into her most personal and cohesive effort yet.
“Most of my time with music has been solitary, writing and recording demos at home others rarely get to hear,” recalls Townsend. “I used to bounce around the country more back in the day and would record demos in Garageband, singing and playing into the built-in mic of my Macbook, using whatever instrument was lying around. Some of those songs are on this album.”
Produced and recorded herself using largely techniques she learned online, Townsend played nearly every instrument on all twelve of the album’s tracks. Despite its piecemeal assemblage, pulling from roughly a decade of demos, time has given these songs room to simmer into a cohesively catchy and dreamily postmodern mixtape of alternapop nostalgia. Airy synthesizers backing whimsically singable hooks immediately call to mind the 80s-tinged undertones of Kate Bush’s theatrical vocals and Cocteau Twins’ intricate arrangements. Holographic guitar riffs float over crisp, frenetic grooves carrying the DNA of post-punk’s rhythmic recklessness on standouts like “Invisible Lassos,” “Dreamvox” and “Black.” Meanwhile, the driving drums of epic earworm burners like “Lemon Phosphate” and “Shearer” keep the record’s whimsical spirit grounded into solid and reliable song structures with introverted themes hinged on anxiety, insecurity and the everyday neuroses.
Even the vinyl release’s artwork—also created by Townsend—seals her self-described “control freak” process and reflects the album’s attention to detail, care for care’s sake, and a presentation that would likely be just as elaborate if, like the majority of her work, no one was intended to see it.
If you don’t recognize the name Fetching Pails, you might remember hearing the name of Jill Townsend, the singer and songwriter at the head of the project, around town. Over the past few years, you'll have seen her in the NYE 2018 production The Rocky Horror Rock ’n’ Roll Show or with synth-pop ensemble Nightblonde — or, for the longtime scenesters, Murfreesboro band Bent Fur. After spending time building on that work in what her official bio describes as “a cocoon of her own making,” she’s ready to release her debut album Telekinesis for Beginners on Nov. 2.
The record includes a single we heard in 2018, “Blue Grotto, Le Beau,” but it opens with “Shearer,” for which she’s made a promo clip. It’s hard to decide whether the music or the video is more enchanting. Townsend’s dreamy, shoegazey sound features breezy, chiming guitar figures over insistent drum lines as she sings about finding her way into Metropolis, where the citizens with their glowing faces ask her about the future — apparently her trip took her into the past. The aesthetically pleasing video also appears as if it’s from the past, with Townsend frolicking through a quaint-looking small town. In spite of some hints of paranormal activity, it’s hard not to want to crawl through the screen and join her, reverse-The Ring-style.
Telekinesis for Beginners is set to be released via Michael Eades’ YK Records. You can preorder a copy via Bandcamp, where you can even snag a sweet blue vinyl LP that also includes a free T-shirt. (I can't think of much better than good music and a free shirt that is also spooky. Thank you, Fetching Pails.) You can also pick up a record at the release party, set for Friday, Nov. 8, at The East Room. Chance Cook, Ziona Riley and Crave On will also play — watch the Facebook event page for updates.
