The Bickett Residency by DeYarmond Edison

Musically, I'm in a lull. I want to blame the early months of the year, as the releases I'm anticipating most aren't quite rolling out. In these periods, I like to seek out rare or under-appreciated music from my favorite artists. Sometimes, I find something new to me that I love, or sometimes I just enjoy listening to an album I don't constantly have streaming in my life. Also, it's Thursday and we all know that means one thing: Throwback time.

A little over a year ago, I became intrigued by Justin Vernon's other projects despite never being a huge fan of Bon Iver. DeYarmond Edison, a predecessor band to Megafaun/ Bon Iver/ Field Report/ The Shouting Matches were right up my alley. With only their youngest release, Silent Signs, on Spotify, I was desperate to hear more of their americana, heavy-leaning-country sound. Their self-titled album, released in 2004, is one of my favorite releases involving Vernon.

Shortly after that first album, in 2005, DeYarmond Edison, was invited by The Bickett Gallery, in Raleigh, North Carolina to be an "Artist In Residency". Using the time to reinvent themselves and the band by honing in on their individual strengths and weaknesses, one of the results was a two-hundred CD pressing of their recordings at the gallery. The Bickett Residency is a true gem: absolutely raw and brilliant but nearly impossible to track down a physical copy. Luckily for Vernon and DeYarmond Edison fans alike, between the tracks being on Grooveshark and the kind upload by tallestfoxes to Youtube, the documentation of those four sessions in Spring 2005 is accessible to nearly everyone.

I have a feeling I'll end up covering most of Justin Vernon's other projects as time goes on. Check out my first JV-related entry on J.D. Vernon's Home Is here.