1) Esperanza Spalding, “Triangle” / The latest from the jazz/chamber-pop luminary joins three songs, all of which take different shapes but share a glorious devotion to texture, atmosphere and mood. These songs hold the power to be heard a thousand times and experienced at least as many ways.
2) The music of Son Volt / Sometimes you need to get beyond the spin, the social-media hype and just hear Jay Farrar out as he offers plainspoken pronouncement about what makes America both wonderful and terrible. I let Farrar’s lyrics hit home this week and was better for it.
3) Ross Gay, “Be Holding” / Here, Ross Gay creates within my favorite genre of art (across medium). “Be Holding” is an unashamed, deeply committed piece of work that is only about one thing and, in that way, becomes about everything. Ostensibly, a book-length ode to Dr. J, and a highlight moment of his on the basketball court, Gay’s poem becomes a cosmic, earthy thing, a hopeful and gutting meditation on how all of life is connected if only you have the eyes to see it.
4) Gabriel Bump, “Everywhere You Don’t Belong” / Here’s an oft-unexplored occupational hazard for arts journalists: You interview so many fascinating creators, you can’t always track down their work—at least not right away. A full (and shameful) year after interviewing Gabriel Bump, I’m immersed in his breakthrough novel, a true achievement of voice and character. A coming-of-age novel (and then some), “Everywhere …” introduces readers to Claude–indelible in our world, forgettable in his—a Chicago teen navigating race, sex, ambition, family untying and his own mediocrity. Bump writes with a very uncommon blend of humor and weight, making this world feel wonderfully familiar and strange all at once.
5) Kasey Jueds, “Inverting the Winter” for Salamander / Color, shape and desire tangle in this remarkable poem from Kasey Jueds. The imagery here, and the poet’s thoughtful, painterly application of color, become a subtle baptism for the reader.