Ben Gibbard & Andrew Kinney - Home EP (Yellow Vinyl)
Ben Gibbard & Andrew Kinney - Home EP (Yellow Vinyl)
The fifth and final volume of the early-’00s Home series of short split albums is getting its first North American vinyl release. The album, originally released in 2003, features exclusive, stripped-down recordings by two artists closely associated with Barsuk – Benjamin Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service) and Andrew Kenny (The American Analog Set, The Wooden Birds). This canary yellow indie-store exclusive color variant is limited to 1700 copies worldwide, and features beautiful artwork borrowed from the album’s only previous – and long out-of-print – vinyl pressing (a 2005 European pressing on beloved German imprint Morr Music). Some background: Austin, TX indie label Post-Parlo started the Home series in 2000, including short contributions from such varied artists as Kind of Like Spitting, Britt Daniel (Spoon), Bright Eyes, Pavo and Super XX Man. The Gibbard/Kenny installment (originally titled Home Vol. 5) came out during a prolific era for both writers: The American Analog Set had released the classic Know By Heart album in 2001 and followed it in 2003 with the acclaimed Promise of Love, while Gibbard’s profile was rising significantly via the critical and commercial success of The Postal Service’s Give Up and Death Cab’s Transatlanticism. Kenny and Gibbard took a simple approach for their entry into the series, recording on cassette four-track machines in their respective living rooms in New York and Seattle and each performing four exclusive stripped-down tracks (including a cover of one of the other’s songs – Kenny choosing a rendition of Death Cab’s “Line of Best Fit” and Gibbard delivering his version of AmAnSet’s “Choir Vandals”).