Revisit of the Week: Sidney Gish - Ed Buys Houses (2016)
Revisit of the last two weeks (and one day - I know I usually post these on a Thursday), really. I went to Confuzzled and figured I'd just stretch this period to double the time to account for it. Might write a post about CFz later.
I was, as always, fashionably late to Sidney Gish. "Presumably Dead Arm" came up in a random playlist tailored by the Streaming Service for my other half, and it was one of those moments where I just had to take stock and pay attention, and then seek out the artist afterwards. I was, then, positively surprised. "Presumably Dead Arm" has all of Gish's usual charm but it's a contemplative, sparse bedroom singer/songwriter ballad - the rest of her album (and her second album No Dogs Allowed (2017) which I basically inhaled at the same time) demonstrated a much giddier, vibrant and funny artistic personality. Anyway, then I started talking about her to everyone I knew and quickly realised the rest of the music nerd internet had already boosted her presence years before and I was just late to the party. Ah well. It doesn't matter. It was new to my partner and I, and soon we had so many new songs and lyrics to quote to one another.
At the time of her first two (and so far only) back-to-back albums, Gish was a university student doing music industry studies. Her albums were something she worked on her private time to blow off steam from her studies and were very intentionally pretty low-stakes. They're mostly arranged for Gish's voice and guitar with fairly basic programmed drum beats and other modest production additions. Her music videos were shot with friends and schoolmates in their houses, the album covers were straightforward (yet immaculately chaotic) image manipulation edits and if you download the albums from Bandcamp, you get all kinds of random additional material which feels like digging into someone's home PC's WIP folder. The lifeblood of her songs is Gish herself, always front and center in the spotlight because she deserves to be there: she's effortlessly charming, full of personality, with lyrics that strike that difficult yet fantastic balance between genuinely smile-inducingly funny and unexpectedly resonantly touching. Her hooks are straightforward but rock solid and instantly lovable, her delivery is radiant and there's often a little unexpected twist lurking somewhere biding its time to make you smile.
I just love how earnest it all is. You can absolutely tell Gish was nothing more than just a young student doing songs for her own amusement in her dorm bedroom, and that's why it's all so great. It comes straight from the heart with no unnecessary garnishes or distractions - just a naturally gifted songwriter and performer coming out of the woodwork to steal the attention. Her songs make you feel comfortable, like hanging out with a friend with no strings attached, just spending an unrushed evening doing nothing but killing time having fun. And then something like "Friday Night Placebo" or "Presumably Dead Arm" comes along and hits the heart.
I think I prefer No Dogs Allowed overall because her arrangements and songwriting got a little bit more expansive while retaining that homeground flavour, but Ed Buys Houses is a close call. It's a little more stripped down and homely, and again that just works so well with the whole vibe Gish radiates. It's bedroom pop, but where the bedroom is your best friend's old room. Together they form a really brilliant entry into Gish's world... and a lot of people agree, because the word of mouth ended up giving her visible online publicity around music blogs and sites, which then bloomed into notable support slots for pretty decently sizeable names (Jeff Rosenstock, The Beths). She took a break to finish her studies and in 2023 announced she had signed to Rough Trade and released a single through the label. Still waiting for her third album, and I cannot wait for it. In the meantime, there's no time like the present to start hanging out with her.
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