Disconnect

A lot of people (at least I assume "a lot" of people -- I don't know how many of us there are) see Sixpence's This Beautiful Mess-era-lineup as definitive, and it's hard to argue. Tess Wiley is the only woman who has been a "permanent" member of the band, and as a harmonist, her throaty alto was a perfect foil for Leigh Nash's high coo, especially on "Within a Room" and "Circle of Error."

Wiley, who has lived in Germany for some years now, recently rejoined Sixpence for handful of tour dates in Europe, where she played and sang on some songs that were written long after she left the band. The only recordings we have of songs Wiley wrote for Sixpence are "Rainy Day Assembly," which was recorded during the same sessions as TBM and which she sings (it didn't appear on the album), and "Disconnect," which Wiley wrote but which Nash sings.

"Disconnect" is a perfect fit for the record, and it's hard to tell someone other than Slocum wrote it -- "a room to keep my rage away from you," eh? -- every bit as weary and impotent (I keep coming back to this word, though I don't mean to) as most of the other songs. It's surely one of the best choruses on the record, especially those staccatto acoustic guitar strums on the final go-round, and there is a cello solo instead of a guitar solo, which is lovely. 

This was my favorite Sixpence song when I was sixteen years old, and the first one I learned to play on the guitar. I don't have a lot of other revelatory things to say, but I do think it holds up pretty well.