Whip Appeal Minimizes Distractions

Whip Appeal, a two-piece based in New Orleans, released “Shimmering Seed” last year. The record—along with a recommendation from our pals in Hartle Road—prompted us to set up a gig for them in Birmingham this fall. It’ll be one of our first Analog Mountains Presents shows, so keep an eye out for more details soon.

Whip Appeal (photo courtesy of the band)

“Shimmering Seed” is compelling because it successfully weaves together sticky hooks, intimacy, and humor. Not an easy task. It subtly glides between genres too, with the winning vocal interplay between James Coarse and Lily Fine gluing all 16 tracks together.

Coarse and Fine are masters of hit-and-run melodies—excellent 2-minute poppy glimmers that burrow into your mind. Sparse, salient tunes like “Blackberry” and “Honey Brown” are high on energy and short on time, ensuring you’ll be humming them long after you listen. The sharp lyrics contribute to the stickiness too.

The lyrical themes swirl around relationships, vehicles (trains, Fords), and barrooms (listen for the BJ's Lounge reference on “Daisy Does”). Coarse and Fine bring these themes to life through interesting narrative snapshots and characters, often dropping the listener into a messy story in the first line. On “State Bird,” a lovely slow roamer, Coarse long draws: “You are the state bird of North Carolina. I am the company that you keep.” From there, you can’t help but want to know more. It’s a record with a playful and pointed personality, ideal for a summer BBQ or a low-key outdoor wedding.

Overall, “Shimmering Seed” offers the bare essentials and steers clear of busyness. In an era where everything feels so overblown in music and culture, it’s nice to find an album where the songs aren’t competing with much else.

Funny enough, soon after finishing this piece, we learned that Whip Appeal has a new full length album–“Cut Flowers”–that’s now available. Check it out below: