Electric Elm is a collaboration between singer-songwriter Chris Bousquet (aka American Elm) and multi-instrumentalist and producer Eric Lichter (Earl Slick, Mercury Rev). Bousquet and Lichter are longtime friends who grew up in adjacent Connecticut shoreline towns. Both men share similar affinities and affections for folk, country, rock, folk-rock, country-rock, power pop, and more – great songs from anywhere, everywhere, and nowhere. And you don’t have to take just our word for that: “Now those are the kinds of songs that matter.” Howe Gelb said that, high praise indeed.
Chris says, “I used to call this a ‘fake band,’ but it’s very much a real band and a real collaboration. One thing you learn as a songwriter is to get out of the way; the best songs happen when you can do that. So when I bring something to Eric, we both know to just listen for what the song wants, and kind of get out of the way of that too. If you can surrender to that, magic happens. In the end, it’s as much Eric’s song as mine. And if we’re doing it right. . . also, neither of ours.”
On today’s song we get a revisiting of an easier time, when days were long, the sun-shone, and there was time to lie around listening to the Velvet Underground and then deliberately walking home along meandering pathways either in hopes of prolonging the time with someone, or even more optimistically just “happen” to run into that person you really wanted to see: “Me, oh, I was just heading home. Yeah, yeah, I guess I have time for a coffee, why not?” You know what we mean; like a couple of weeks ago.
