Sam McNitt of Rowboat. Photo by Ian McDonnell.
Look at you! You made it past the grind and gristle of Monday, and it’s Tuesday already. You’re well on your way toward the weekend. To celebrate, Reverb would like to give you what we always give on Tuesdays: free music!
That’s right. Every week, we survey some of the loudest, quietest, saddest, happiest, weirdest, safest music that Colorado has to offer, and we select one track to give to you, lucky reader. Steal This Track is all about giving Reverb readers the opportunity to HEAR the talented artists that we write about. In many cases, the music we hand over to you, free of tariffs and surcharges, has never been released. That’s true of this week’s beautifully melancholy treat from Rowboat.
When singer-songwriter Sam McNitt isn’t breaking hearts and strings in rock outfit , he’s holed up in his home studio, fleshing out the spare, sad music of his solo project, . This is McNitt’s opportunity to strip his desolate ditties down, exposing the charred, lonely bones. Melody and words are center stage for Rowboat, with just enough instrumentation and production to magnify the emotion and urgency of the songs.
While McNitt has yet to formally release any music under the Rowboat moniker, all that might change soon. “I have a lot of songs recorded and finished and sitting on my hard drive, waiting to see the light of day,” says the prolific songwriter. “I’m planning on putting the songs together somewhat thematically and releasing three or four EPs at once this spring.”
While you wait for the great unveiling of the Rowboat ouevre, enjoy “Devil & Dust.” On this track, McNitt nearly evokes desolation and solitude with the grace and resignation of Marty Robbins or Willie Nelson, and manages to put an indie rock spin on it that is reminiscent of some of Beck’s most austere work. This is not a song that develops in the traditional verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus narrative arc of pop music. Instead, a hypnotic guitar figure, a haunting melody and McNitt’s weathered, weary baritone drive the tune forward like a forced march across the Great American Desert. Naked, poignant and beautiful, the minimalist approach of “Devil & Dust” shows just how much can be done with very little.
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If you’re a band or musician ready to unleash some fresh sounds on the readers of Reverb, email your tracks to Eryc Eyl for consideration.
Please note that downloads offered via Steal This Track are intended to whet your appetite, and are NOT CD-quality recordings. If you want those, please support the artists by buying their music and/or seeing them live.
Eryc Eyl is a veteran music journalist, critic and Colorado native who has been neck-deep in local music for many years. Check out every Tuesday for local music you can HEAR, and the every Friday.
