Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song is “Oregon” by Sallie Ford from the 2015 album Slap Back on Vanguard Records.
Sallie Ford - Oregon (MP3)
After the 2013 dissolution of her previous project, the beloved Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, Ford went back to the drawing board for her first solo album, this year's diverse and sharp Slap Back. After four releases with the Sound Outside, Ford was looking to move in a new direction with a new band, so she returned to Portland and did just that. Recruiting Cristina Cano (Siren & the Sea) on keys, Anita Lee Elliott (Viva Voce, Blue Giant) on bass and Amanda Spring (Point Juncture, WA) on drums, Ford ditched the rockabilly sensibility of her previous work and drew from nearly every other style of hard charging rock and roll, incorporating garage, surf, and psychedelic sounds into the sessions that resulting in the first album solely under her name, Slap Back. An ode to Ford's adopted home state of Oregon, "Oregon" is a punchy garage pop gem, thick in its power chord punch and not lacking in Ford's contagious charisma. Ford's guitar is covered in gain and her bandmates' tracks just as dense, but as much as blunt force carries their approach, it's tempered by the melodic chorus melody and lyric – "Oregon, you're the prettiest I've seen". It's an undeniable, sweet tune, but Ford and her band take it up a notch with their ability to spike up the song without sacrificing its core sentiment.
Later this month, Sallie Ford will embark on a tour of France, but keep up with Sallie on her website and Facebook for any news on future American tour dates. Sallie and her new band did just tape a session for KEXP, which will air on Audioasis on Saturday, March 28 at 6:30 PM. Tune in then, and below, watch "They Told Me" from Sallie and The Sound Outside's final visit to the KEXP studios in KEXP.
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