Singled Out: Simon Linsteadt “Providence”

 

There is a timeless quality to Simon Linsteadt’s song ‘Providence’. His lilting vocal dancing with ringing guitar notes and sweeping, haunted vibrations of strings. Mandolin lines trembling in the mix with steady picked guitars, a sound scape that is hazy and grayed, but with light peering through when his vocal enters and provides a guiding path for the listener. Check it out below and the latest album from the songwriter called “The Fool”.

Who: Simon Linsteadt

From: NYC

Song: ‘Providence’

Latest Record: “The Fool”

What About It: “‘Providence’ is what I would call the title track of the album, but without the title. It encapsulates The Fool, and I am currently shooting a film to accompany the song involving stop motion puppetry. The song was inspired by a visit to Providence, Rhode Island more than a decade ago. I was taken by the eerie feel of the city and its circuitous, wet brick sidewalks. There was a haunting beauty to the place. Later I learned that the classic horror writer H.P. Lovecraft lived and died there, which added to my romantic notion of the city. The soundscapes in the piece were played on a big, rather decrepit wooden Baldwin organ. Also of note is my mandolin, an unassuming A-Style Flattop Kalamazoo from the 1940’s that I saw hanging on the wall at Tall Toad Music in Petaluma, California a year ago. It became my ‘Fool’s Lute’. In this song it shines through in all of its sorrowful, foolish glory. The recording happened on a cassette four-track, which was then transferred to an eight-track reel-to-reel to add vocals and organ. I love starting out my recordings on the four-track cassette recorder because it makes the bass and guitars sound great, and I can’t seem to capture that sonic character on anything else.”