Hallock Hill

Aran Ruth, “Cast Your Ship Upon Rain,” Yeti 8

Yeti continues to bring us great writing and great listening. Edited by Mike McGonigal, whose DJ sets of rare gospel tunes are fabulous and who wrote the 33 1/3 book on Loveless, Yeti is an eclectic mix of the archaic (and archai’cized) and the cutting edge. The CD accompanying the current issue contains 27 tracks and each one provides something fresh. There’s garage, folk, gospel, rock, the bizarre (perhaps). Somehow this song by Aran Ruth has grabbed me. Beneath its surface simplicity is a haunting eeriness, its forlorn lyrics mixed with a tumbling oddity that can be heard on close (headphone) listen.  Ruth hails from Detroit and was formerly in the glam rock band The Sirens. There’s little glam here. Now parte of the Newe Detroit scene(e), Ruth has a good gift for emotion. Let’s hope to hear more.