Desert Island song #1: Arthur Russell

After picking up a freelance job with a long-ass commute each way, it's eaten into any extra-curricular activities, let alone the activities I'm most driven to do, like writing.  But on Thanksgiving I'm thankful for the cash flow, as much as I am spending time with friends and family.

I'm also thankful for the new and new-to-me music I keep discovering, month after month, year after year. Some of which have become desert island selections, like this song by Arthur Russell.

I know there are other versions of it he did that are floating out here, but I think this one is flawless. When minimalism is done correctly, there is nothing better. Russell's cello is haunting as always. And his voice is in fine form, which isn't always the case as I can veer into Mupet territory a bit too much for my tastes.

But the simplicity of "Every step is moving me up," and "This is how we walk on the moon," is so evocative. In another singer or musician's hands this might be boring.  But Russell is a musician's singer; like Chet Baker they don't sing so much as play their voice.

Muppet voice aside I'd still take his voice over José Gonzalez who sorry to say is nothing more than a hipster covers singer to me. I do appreciate Santigold's sampling it in "Icarus."

But music is subjective, and there's only a handful of songs, I'd take with me to a desert island, and this is one of them.