German songwriter Poppkorn Sutton sent us this track with the apologetic message: “To be honest, I don’t have much to offer.” Well, I’m quite glad that “Für Machete” was the offering.
The new track has shades of Pedro the Lion, giving slowcore and bedroom pop with just a touch of shoegaze. It begins lo-fi and with Sutton’s vocals and guitar alone, but expands into a crystal-clear and lush soundscape as the song proceeds throughout its five-and-a-half minutes. By the final jam, “Für Machete” becomes a hypnotic piece of work.
It becomes more of a mantra than anything towards the end. Sutton wrote “Für Machete” for his cat who passed away from cancer two years before the song’s release. Despite the mournful vibes at the beginning of the song, Sutton sings to the joy his departed friend gave him in life, and how he’ll see them soon. In the last two minutes, as the sound brightens, Sutton repeats the phrase “Nothing inside of this world can pull me down.”
The instruments build and flow around this sentence, showing Sutton’s convictions to focus on happy memories and the present moment, rather than pain and loss. It’s an invigorating and wonderful way to end a song. I’m sure Sutton’s dearly-departed “für machete” would approve.
Should you want to look up more of Sutton’s work, make sure you spell the name “Poppkorn Sutton”, as written in the title of this post: Google’s search engine will keep trying to redirect you to Popcorn Sutton, the American moonshiner and bootlegger. At time of posting, I have not confirmed that the latter influenced the name of the former.
Take a listen to “Für Machete” below:
Written by Will Sisskind
