Damien Jurado - "Arkansas". Barclay sat staring at his computer screen. He held a bottle of water. The window said: GarageBand. There was the little picture of an electric guitar. Barclay said this:

"Okay GarageBand. Okay. Here we go. Open... New file. Yes. Okay. Barclay, okay. This time, Barclay, this time. Record. A. Song. Let's go. [handclap] I'll make a song like... a song like... like 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'. Yes. No. No, that's too sappy. Like 'America'. But without a kettle drum. I'll make a song like 'Cecilia'. Yes, like 'Cecilia'. Just like 'Cecilia'. A beautiful song like 'Cecilia'. Barclay, you will make a beautiful song like Cecilia. Begin recording... now. [silence for 13s] [Sung] Oh oh oh, What goes on! [silence for 8s] Right. Right, well that's something. And now you're talking and getting recorded. Way to go, Barclay. Stop. I need a drummer. Barclay, you need a drummer. The thing is, I can't make 'Cecilia' because I don't feel like 'Cecilia'. I'm a bozo. I'm a nobody. I'm not sure of anything. How the hell do I make a song like 'Cecilia'?"

At this time, Jeanie called up from downstairs.

"How's it going?" she asked.

"Good," yelled Barclay.

"I love you!" Jeanie yelled.

Barclay took a sip of water. "Love you too!"

[Damien Jurado's new album, Saint Bartlett, will be released May 25.]

Eternal Summers - "Able To". Imagine a waterslide up-side down. You begin in the splash-pool, beating at flat water. Then you coast up and round, skidding, twist-bending, that slick scary backwards pour. Under your thighs, you feel the joinings of the waterslide's plastic. You feel the bumps. You see fir trees over the side of the tube. Your heart is bounding in your chest as you swing and skid, hauled backward by your shoulder-blades, the park growing smaller and smaller. And then, hop, you are at the beginning, and hop, you are on your feet, tipping on your heels; and hop you are walking backward down the boardwalk, to the ticket office, to the parking lot, to the beat-up Volkswagen. You're driving backwards with Katy and Lou. You're entering the city in reverse. You're going home, you're eating lunch, then breakfast. You're going to sleep, going to work, falling out of love, falling into love, graduating, studying, skipping classes before you've even started school. (This song, previously on StG.) [MySpace/buy new EP]

---

Almost no one left comments on yesterday's White Hinterland guest-post. :(

(photo source unknown - clearly of Ron Mueck's Baby)