No matter what our parents might tell us, long-distance relationships have existed for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Yet, in this new age, we don’t need to rely on handwritten mail whether it be delivered by plane, train, carrier pigeon or human messenger more than we can take advantage of the wonderful world wide web.
Such was the case with Connecticut songwriter Dean Falcone and Georgia singer Trish Thompson, who managed to build an intimately close musical bond with one another despite the nearly 15 hours’ physical distance between them in light of the death of a mutual friend. Hitting it off, Falcone and Thompson found themselves embracing much of the same musical influences from out of the 1960s and 70s easy listening and pop music, which launched their ascension into their bossa nova outlet of today.
On their record, Gaslighter, Thompson tackles each song with a skillful finesse made especially scintillating by her clear knack to interpret a lyric to her preferred evocation. Falcone, meanwhile, deftly handles the songwriting portion of the record with a clear-cut precision. Despite meeting as they did and work as they have, this is a duo that very clearly just gels together in that they know what they want to make and know how to get about making it. They bring modern sensibilities to older musical sentiments, marrying new age developments in production technology with sounds more influenced by Burt Bacharach and Phil Seymour than anything.
Seymour, in fact, has a song appear on the album in Tipsy in Chelsea’s interpretation of his classic, “Precious to Me”, alongside a cover of Badfinger’s “Day After Day”. Both songs essentially from out of the 70s and early 80s heyday, Thompson brings her studied grace to proceedings over a hushed folksy production courtesy of Falcone. This pretty much becomes standard for their original songs as well, evoking a vibe similar to that of the celebrated artist Ohashi Trio for those willing to ride that line between jazz and folk for something introspective and new.
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Words by: Jonathan Frahm