Driftwood Soldier | photo by Kyle Cassidy | courtesy of the artist
PREMIERE: Driftwood Soldier unveil new EP with “Wake Up Sinners” single
The self-styled gutter folk duo Driftwood Soldier is back with its second studio album, a seven track EP called Blessings & Blasphemy that navigates the split perspectives of religion and atheism. The record’s Friday, March 24th release will be accompanied by a special one-off collaborative show (details after the jump), but today we’re premiering album cut “Wake Up Sinners” a few days early.
As co-leader Owen Lyman-Schmidt tells us over email, Blessings & Blasphemy features three reinterpretations of traditional gospel songs and three original anti-religion compositions that thematically bookend “Wake Up Sinners,” the crossroads of the two ideological frameworks. The song pairs the eponymous traditional tune with lyrics from “I Ain’t Thick It’s Just a Trick” by ’70s English punk band Crass. It’s a mash-up that both blurrs and emphasizes the lines between the two sides, repurposing the messages of both songs to speak for the other. Lyman-Schmidt and bandmate Bobby Szafranski are joined by fiddler Matt Heckler for the track, giving the judgement day song a Charlie Daniels kind of fire.
Blessings & Blasphemy gets it’s official release on Friday, March 24th. At L’Etage later that evening, Driftwood Soldier will be joined by Katy Otto (Trophy Wife), Natalie Butts (Sun Flights), Liana Moskowitz, and Chenda Cope (The Old Fashioneds) for a celebratory night of storytelling and music. Tickets and information for the release show can be found here. Stream “Wake Up Sinners” below and preorder Blessings & Blasphemy on Bandcamp.