In 2010, having departed Epic Records after a strange falling out that found his band releasing two versions of the same album on different labels, Richard Edwards stripped his baroque-ragged indie-folk group Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s down to the chassis and rebuilt it as a lean, vicious machine. The ensuing album, Buzzard, was the most immediate record Edwards had recorded to date.
Five years later, the lean look still suits Edwards well. On December 4, Joyful Noise will release The Bride on the Boxcar, a five-disc box set—that’s one LP for every record from the group’s initial run, each one collecting outtakes, bedroom recordings, and unreleased tracks associated with the respective album. Today, we’re pleased to be premiering “Francine,” from the Buzzard-era collection Now, Let’s Risk Our Feathers. True to its parent album, the track soars on little more than a ratty fingerpicked guitar and Edwards’s ascendant voice, which twangs the edges of the song’s melody. Things get dreamy, then they get messy—a tidy summation of the band’s history to this point.
The Bride on the Boxcar is out December 4 on Joyful Noise. For more information, click here.
