4 albums that inspired: Letting Go Despite Great Faults
4 Albums That Inspired: Letting Go Despite Great Faults
Founded in Los Angeles by Mike Lee, Letting Up Despite Great Faults has gone through quite a few developments, swapping acoustics for a noisier shoegaze soundscape, and acquiring new bandmates Kent Zambrana, Daniel Schmidt and Annah Fisette. Now based in Austin, Texas, the band craft romantic, woozy music that feels both nostalgic and deeply familiar. You can now purchase the brand new album ‘IV’ on limited edition cassette tape from the Chalkpit Cassette Club - Store.
Velocity Girl - ¡Simpatico! (1994)
I remember hearing about the band when “Audrey’s Eyes” was playing on MTV’s 120 Minutes. I loved that song but I never tried to find the album it was on. That was on Copacetic, which is great, but when ¡Simpatico! came out, I was ready to go to Tower Records by myself, and after buying it, I listened to it over and over again. It was first real foray into the indiepop sound and I cherish (and sing along with) that album to this day.
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Honey’s Dead (1992)
I only really knew about them because the Pixies covered their song “Head On.” It was also very easy to learn on guitar so I played along to it a lot. Only years later I’d dig through my brother’s catalog and play Psychocandy and Darklands. Honey’s Dead is actually a 90s album and bursts with hooks and sounds I adore to this day. It opened my eyes to what you could sound like with just guitars and a drum machine. The album starts off with “I want to die just like Jesus Christ, I want to die on a bed of spikes” - what a way to introduce yourself huh? However, my favorite line is in “Far Gone and Out” and goes “no one works so hard just to make me feel so bad.”
Kero Kero Bonito - Time 'n' Place (2018)
I was already enamored with Kero Kero from "My Party" and "Flamingo," and Bonito Generation was an album I could always put on to lift my spirits. When I first heard Time 'n' Place I was almost mad because I felt the world needed more synthpop from Kero but they decided to make things more guitar and band driven. After that feeling subsided, I immediately saw the gold that this album was. "Time Today" and "Make Believe" are little indie masterpieces to me, and I could not love this album more. It shattered my idea of expectations and reminded me that a great song will be wonderful no matter the type of instrumentation.
The Notwist - Neon Golden (2003)
This album probably had the most influence on me when I first started Letting Up. I loved electronic music like Boards of Canada and Air, but The Notwist showed me how you could really glitch things and still be melodic, mellow even. It made me experiment more in my storytelling, and opened a part of the world I absolutely wanted to live in.
Letting Up Despite Great Faullt - IV - Pre-Order now