cinder well

branching off from the twisted teens thread:

unmentioned so far: Caspian was a key figure in a band called Blackbird Raum out of Santa Cruz that did the full-on scuzzbag / busker / street kid folk-punk thing that was pretty popular on the west coast (or at least the upper half of the west coast) a decade or so ago. they were one of the big success stories of that scene ... i'd guess Sleeve is familiar, lol.

i think of his whole style as coming from that world as opposed to NOLA, though i'm sure there's a pretty healthy back-and-forth happening between the two.

also in that band: Amelia Baker, aka Cinder Well, who put out a great album of beautiful doom-folk a couple months ago: https://cinderwell.bandcamp.com/album/a-blooming-body

― alpine static, Wednesday, September 2, 2026 10:40 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

so that album, a blooming body has completely arrested me after one listen. i'm not sure all of what's going on yet. it's very .. clear in sound. guitars and a few instruments up front. and amelia's voice, which is .. amazing. the overall pace is slow and contemplative. very general mood reference points: low, pj harvey. at that level of quality as well. amelia's lyrics are a wonder. they're kind of tricky. literary and careful sometimes but clear-eyed. she's getting at something. the overall feel is gothic. it achieves a genuine tingle at the back of my neck from time to time. but her subjects and treatments aren't all the same .. she has range. what's constant is a clear-eyed observational gentleness. colliding sometimes with something fundamentally violent. the violence of a transient life. it's such a beautiful album. i have a feeling it's going to be one of my favorites of the year. i'm feeling so stunned and amazed that i had to start a thread.

for reference, again, the album is here: https://cinderwell.bandcamp.com/album/a-blooming-body