Frog Eyes Release New LP, Share “Put a Little Light on the Wretch That is Me” Single | ‘The Open Up’ Out Now via Paper Bag Records
Today, Vancouver indie-rock greats Frog Eyes share “Put a Little Light on the Wretch That is Me” along with their new LP ‘The Open Up”. Carey on the track, “This is some kind of generalized love song. I’ve long wanted to write a song that reminded me in anyway of a Before Hollywood era Go-Betweens composition. When this one popped out, I thought, Yes, there you are! I saluted that taut, tight structure that ascends so cleanly and compellingly, and takes you to so many places in such a short amount of time. And in my mind’s eye I saw someone gentle and beloved tugging at my sleeve.”
FEATURE INTERVIEW:
Where can you hear the Go-Betweens’ Before Hollywood influence in this song? Why do you think it was important to bring some of that sound into this project?
Let’s take “By Chance“, The room sound on the vocals, the chime and wee bit of hair on the guitars, the way that the parts all fit together and how the riffs, if you can call them riffs, are just dynamic interludes between the singing. It’s brilliant and (though justly celebrated), deserves eternal excavation.
What does the theme of the sea represent in this track—is it a place of escape, release, or something else entirely?
I go on reading benders, and I had been reading the modernist novels of the Australian writer Patrick White. There is a ferry ride in one of them that kind of stuck with me, and of course I lived on an island for at least three decades, so ferry life is always a concept that will resonate. A ferry is an odd experience—it’s always pedestrian, it’s transit, you just want to get off the boat, but it’s also plowing through beautiful, “inspirational” backdrops. Always a tension, I suppose.
Where does the title “Put a Little Light on the Wretch That is Me” come from, and how does this track fit into the bigger picture of the story the album tells?
I just felt kind of impacted by that title—like someone you love is tugging at your sleeve (and therefore your heart), reminding you of their presence. It makes you feel lit up. If “song” was a figure, it would surely tug at my sleeve.
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