It’s no longer an aberration for artists to collaborate in the cloud, given the ease with which most of the world accesses high-speed internet. And A Sunny Day In Glasgow—collectively based in Philadelphia, Brooklyn and Sydney, Australia—creates the sort of impressionistic guitar pop that feels ripe for working in the ether. But that doesn’t mean the process of writing fine new album Sea When Absent (Lefse) across three cities and two hemispheres was ideal. In fact, the method was so present that it became a centerpiece of its narrative. The band will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on the band.
Annie Fredrickson: A few months ago my friend sent me this article about Coya Knutson, the first woman from Minnesota elected to Congress. (I grew up in the North Star State, thus my interest.) The story of her takedown is infuriating, to be sure, but the thing that stayed with me after reading was actually this description of Knutson from her biographer: “She had a philosophy that ‘vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord’ …. That was her mantra.”
“Damn,” I thought, “that is the most awesomely passive-aggressive mantra I have ever heard.”
Not saying I will adopt that particular one for myself, but I’ve always liked me a good pithy summation of all that you stand for: mantras, mottos, creeds. The Stark family in Game Of Thrones, for example: “Winter is coming.” It really tells you all you need to know about their outlook on life, and if employed early on in a conversation can cut short any impersonal chitchat. Or The Evergreen State College, alma mater of my hero Lynda Barry (and a bunch of other cool cats): “Omnia extares,” which roughly translates to “Let it all hang out.” A Sunny Day In Glasgow has a motto too, actually, which appears on our crest (which appears on some T-shirts we used to sell): “Versus sursum vestri rannas,” or “Line up your frogs.” In fact once you start looking, you can spend a pleasant afternoon finding your favourite muttum (Latin for “mutter,” the root of the word)—I discovered that the motto of the city of Sydney, where I live now, is the rather defeatist “I take but I surrender.” Put that on a bridge, I dare you.
Speaking of bridges, though; now that I think of it, the motto on the Trenton, N.J., bridge may actually win the prize for most passive-aggressive mantra of all time: “Trenton Makes The World Takes.” Perhaps the good people of that town should get together with Sydney for some closure.
Photo after the jump.
