Bendrix Littleton - Deep Dark South (September 25, 2020) Album

OhTheWater · Sep 1, 2020

Deep Dark South, by Bendrix Littleton

Church Choir

Smoke

Deep Dark South

Backwards

Clark

Bud Light Flows Like Water

Daylight Curls

Carry These Things

Wine

Bedroom

Bendrix Littleton is the writing and recording project of Nashville-via-Dallas musician Bennett Littlejohn. The project’s namesake, Maurice Bendrix—the protagonist of Graham Greene’s 1951 novel The End of the Affair—is described by enotes.com as “sometimes an unreliable narrator, for he is so consumed by jealousy, self-pity, self-hatred, and bitterness, that he measures everyone else by himself…[and] confesses that from time to time ‘a demon’ takes possession of his brain.” It’s an appropriate moniker for the self-aware, malaise-filled songs of Bendrix Littleton’s debut, Deep Dark South, due out September 25 from NNA Tapes. While in the album is imbued with the contradictions and painful beauty of the modern American South (as opposed to Greene’s WWII-era London), the hazy, solitary narrative voice remains.

Formerly one half of the “NyQuil-Pop” duo Bent Denim (dissolved in the summer of 2018), Littlejohn sought a fresh outlet that was more individual and freed from any preconceived artistic notions. During this time Littlejohn began taking on significantly more studio work, including production credits on Hovvdy’s Heavy Lifter (out now on Double Double Whammy), new material from Katy Kirby (out on Keeled Scales), and forthcoming work from Sinai Vessel. While production on this music was deeply rewarding, it was nonetheless work that was beholden to someone else’s vision. And it was out of this craving for artistic autonomy that Bendrix Littleton was born. Deep Dark South has provided a space for Littlejohn to experiment, collage, write, and record in a completely independent manner—a long-awaited and welcome zone of unfettered creation.

On the singular writing and recording process of Deep Dark South, Littlejohn states:

The initial spurt of songwriting was directly correlated to a vintage Harmony H162 acoustic guitar I found at a flea market in Kentucky, near the Tennessee border. This guitar would’ve been sold at Sears in the early 60’s. I strung it up with all of the higher pitched strings from a 12-string acoustic set and got to writing. A lot of rich, burnt-out musicians affectedly claim that there are ‘songs in guitars’ to justify their ever-growing guitar collections, but I do feel there is an ounce of truth in this. The way something feels, or the faults of a certain instrument indeed can bring out something unique and new.
Once the basic bedrock of the record had been tracked, I realized that the songs were too slow, my voice was too low…a spark was missing. My brother had just sent me my old Tascam four track cassette recorder. So, I spent a little time with that, and ended up committing these songs in their unfinished states to fixed tracks on this old tape machine—no editing, no panning, no volume changing. Driving the cassette tape hard and speeding the songs up (which also raises the pitch), gave this album that special aspect I had been looking for, and also provided a completely fucked up and new sonic foundation for me to start layering on top of.

And on the themes and sensibility of the album itself, Littlejohn says:

Throughout the record I deal with the common tropes of alcohol/drug abuse, malaise, ennui, regional junk, and the dissolution of relationships. It’s well-trod ground, but I'd rather write what feels genuine rather than something foreign for the sake of novelty. It feels ridiculous enough to put out something in 2020…so much noise to break through. But I feel like these are common enough things. I wouldn’t say these things are universal, but they're not far from it.

Deep Dark South is out on September 25 from NNA Tapes.

This is EXTREMELY my shit. Member of Bent Denim RIYL: Ambient Folk, Seismograph, German Error Message
S/O @sean_rugy for the rec a few weeks back

trevorshmevor · Sep 1, 2020

Sounds cool! I’m in

sean_rugy · Sep 1, 2020

ohhh let's go, this is going to be good

sean_rugy · Sep 1, 2020

"ny-quil pop" is such a great description for bent denim lol

OhTheWater · Sep 25, 2020

this is out today!!!

Justin Roux · Sep 25, 2020

This is so lovely. Some of the guitar licks on here really just scratch the perfect itch.

OhTheWater · Sep 25, 2020

Yeah I really loved my first listen

sean_rugy · Sep 25, 2020

thank you for the reminder! so out of the loop this year...

trevorshmevor · Sep 25, 2020

This is pretty good so far! Had to pause in the middle of Daylight Curls but I’ll come back to the rest in a bit

sean_rugy · Sep 25, 2020

this is so damn pretty. looking forward to giving it a spin in the morning haha

OhTheWater · Oct 14, 2020

This still rules! Need to listen to it more

ItsAndrew · Oct 14, 2020

I heard one song from this and enjoyed it but never dove in further. Commenting so I remember to check it all out later today.

trevorshmevor · Apr 29, 2021

Bendrix played bass on this solo album by one of the guys from Hovvdy

Charlie Martin - Imaginary People (April 30, 2021) • forum.chorus.fm

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