The Significance of Peaches is a very important discussion we need to have with Chris Bathgate
Michigan songwriter Chris Bathgate has premiered the single, “The Van” today via GLIDE Magazine, prior to the release of his new full-length album, The Significance of Peaches, which arrives tomorrow via Quite Scientific. GLIDE said, "The compositional respect for space and piercing execution, prove Bathgate is a songwriter with the cinematic flair of John Cale, Richard Thompson, and others." Bathgate will perform June 9 in Ypsilanti at Unity Vibration. Pre-order The Significance of Peaches here.
Discussing the single, Bathgate mused, “While it’s a story of being introspective in the forest, it’s more concerned with how things feel, how things seem, which could be different than how things actually are—pointing to that difference in the progressing ‘as if’ conjunctions. The song brings images of seeking respite and inner work camping deep in the forest, but also alludes to the possibility of lost connection, of self realizations, or of our mortality, without committing to a singular interpretation. All are intended, and are put in the hands of the listener to choose any or all.
The track is in one sense inspired by the old family GMC Safari; my folks gave it to me near the end of its life. It was a 98 AWD, a workhorse. It seemed to have an emerging air about it as its health declined. It felt like it was going rogue, becoming wild—I drove it accordingly. It'd been all over the US, broke down a lot, but still made it to California. Eventually, it was sold when I landed a steady place to live in SF. Overall, the van spent most of its time in California on dusty mountain roads or in Michigan’s forests. It was beaten up but still going—it felt like a kindred spirit.
I camped with it a lot in the Huron-Manistee National Forest. I wanted the sound of it teetering through those woods, the occasional branch hitting the rack, to somehow be a part of the song. I was interested in that rattling crashing march to the end of the drivable road—you must proceed on foot—feeling coming across.”
The Significance of Peaches finds Chris ruminating on time spent living in rural confines, from the National Forests of Michigan to farms in Northern California, along with the significance of that aforementioned stone fruit. After migrating down to San Francisco, Chris reconnected with the love of his life, and the eventual mother of his children, which led to a return back home to Michigan.
Sonically the album leans heavily on the structural support of a parlor organ, with barely a cymbal in sight, and not a guitar to be found. Chris’ haunted vocals perched atop it all.
Over the course of a last decade, and five albums prior Bathgate has toured across the US and some of Europe, performed a NPR Tiny Desk Concert, had extensive airplay on the BBC, and received praise from outlets such as Paste, NPR Music, No Depression, All Music and The Independent (UK).
