Ursula's Crow
A fascinating and beguiling record. Working with the best musicians, Spencer has crafted a memory-soaked reflection on his Romford roots. His Coin Collection is worth a bob or two!
Favorite track: What a Waste of an Echo.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
£7.99GBP or more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
This is a 'Second Chance' vinyl. These are records which are unplayed, but have superficial damage from being transported unsecurely. 25% of the profit from all 'Second Chance' vinyl will go to ClientEarth.
Includes unlimited streaming of Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection 2
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
2 remaining
Purchasable with gift card
£8GBPor more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Limited edition gold vinyl, hand-numbered edition of 500. Ships from UK. Every order is entered into a lottery to win 1 of 5 Japan-only 7"s. Winners will be notified on 14th April 2023.
Includes unlimited streaming of Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection 2
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
2 remaining
Purchasable with gift card
£22.99GBPor more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Pressing of 1000 on silver vinyl. Ships from UK. Every order is entered into a lottery to win 1 of 5 Japan-only 7"s. Winners will be notified on 14th April 2023.
Includes unlimited streaming of Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection 2
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
3 remaining
Purchasable with gift card
£22.99GBPor more
SIGNED Silver LP
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Limited signed copies. Signed by Spencer, Rich Ruth and Sean Thompson.
Includes unlimited streaming of Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection 2
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Get Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection 2 on gold 12" vinyl with Spencer Cullums Coin Collection on black 12" vinyl LP.
Limited bundles available.
Includes unlimited streaming of Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection 2
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Sold Out
SIGNED Gold Vinyl
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Limited signed copies.
Includes unlimited streaming of Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection 2
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Sold Out
Softpack CD
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Gatefold softpack CD.
Includes unlimited streaming of Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection 2
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Sold Out
'Second Chance' Non-Mint Gold Vinyl
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
This is a 'Second Chance' vinyl. These are records which are unplayed, but have superficial damage from being transported unsecurely. 25% of the profit from all 'Second Chance' vinyl will go to ClientEarth.
Includes unlimited streaming of Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection 2
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Oh to see that it’s clear
To breathe in out in our
To compress that guilt and misery
To have a lack of sympathy
Get your foot inside the door
Quietly and inconspicuously
To harbor all that hate, what a waste
Of an echo
I guess ignorance is bliss
There’s so many of us so many of us
To shut the door to leave us dry
Does it pay to be privy
To harbor all that hate , what a waste
Of an echo
A policy to silence
A spine you’ve never had
Clueless and cruel , clueless and cruel
To harbor all that hate, what a waste
Of an echo
This is kingdom weather
Couldn't ask for more
Doesn’t get much better
Let’s see what the days got in store
I see shades of green
Every colors brighter
Palpable it seems
I can taste my true loves laughter
Sprawled out in silence
It all makes sense
Everything is quiet
Your hair feathered on my chest
嫌なことばかりじゃないさ
たのしいことたくさんあるさ
気持ちいいとこへ
(It's not all I hate
There are so many fun things to do
to a comfortable place)
Day Lilly’s blossom, blue bonnets rise
Down from the mountain
Where the fetal valley lies
This is kingdom weather
Couldn’t ask for more
Doesn’t get much better
I can taste my true loves laughter
嫌なことばかりじゃないさ
たのしいことたくさんあるさ
気持ちいいとこへ
(It's not all I hate
There are so many fun things to do
to a comfortable place)
嫌なことばかりじゃないさ
たのしいことたくさんあるさ
Kingdom weatherへ
Green trees gentle sway
Through the windy sky
Sunlight trickles on the estate
The terrain stretches wide
So you’ll hide into night
All the multitudes severed away
All those childhood memories
Disappear with age
Trembling in fear, nothing is quite so clear
Did you lose your way
Please remember my name
The bus was late again
Down the street from petits lane
I’ll just sit here and wait
I think I lost my way
Through a shady storm of grey
This town will be the death of me if I stay
All those childhood memories
Disappear with age
Trembling in fear, nothing is quite so clear
Did you lose your way
Please remember my name
Sun is setting, now hurry home
Castle crumbles without a throne
Through the veins a river runs
In discontent the winter comes
The common crane
That’s hard to frame
Feeling out of focus
Don’t take pity on this man
No need for you to hold my hand
Could we just sit and stare
Take some time and breath the air
Words like Maldon salts, awaken old thoughts
Feeling out of focus
I’ll always love my little girl
Can’t say it but your my world
I’ll hold you close to my chest
From here til eternal rest
To gander a glimpse of yourself
Feeling out of focus
High in the country, betwixt and between
The tail end of nothingness
And the mighty sea
That’s where the light is
Shining bright from the hill
That’s where my love can be found
Waiting at the window sill
In a house made of stone
I built with my hands
That crumbles when she’s all alone
The mortar turns to sand
I left in a hurry
Called to serve and to save
I fought for a country
That put me in my grave
And the bugle calls
And the rouse was played
That sweet song I sang
And the flowers I laid
High in the country, betwixt and between
The tail end of nothingness
And the mighty sea
My body my temple my only apparatus
That loneliness creeps up inside
Oh It shudders and chatters away
The church on the hill
The rain that sits still
The gift you keep on giving to the town you will, I think I’ve found my place
It’s always bloody freezing
There’s mist in the corners of the ceiling
In a cold damp valley
Much to my dismay
I need to start the day
I chase that sun but it keeps running away
The evening calls my name
The creature that hides in the depths of the dam can’t shake it off how lucky I am
How lucky we are today
Rain coat you’ll never take off
Wash clothes hanging in the loft
In a cold damp valley
It’s always bloody freezing
There’s mist in the corners of the ceiling
In a cold damp valley
In a cold damp valley
It’s that same day departure
From a world that couldn’t care
So hide those tears with laughter
It’s time to get out of here
I don’t trust this heavy weather
Or anything in sight
You were meant to be helping
How little help you’ve been
It’s that same day departure
The state we’re in a mess
So load up the dogs and your belongings
Put your love one by your side
It’s that same day departure
Let’s all say our goodbyes
about
Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection 2, sees the Nashville-based musician step further from the pedal steel and towards center stage. Released on the evergreen Full Time Hobby label, this new collection of tracks is a kaleidoscopic collection of folk, jazz, and pop, cut though with immaculately-rendered songwriting.
Romford to Nashville is hardly the most well-trodden of paths, but for Spencer Cullum it was a way of getting to the essential heart of pedal steel, what was then and remains to this day his musical raison d'être. Growing up in the large East London town brought him early exposure to classic pub rock by way of his father such as Dr. Feelgood and Thin Lizzy, and farther-flung music by way of his mother, such as Talking Heads and Lou Reed. However, it was learning pedal steel from legendary English player B. J. Cole that set him on the path he still walks today. After touring with Nashville-based groups and hearing tales of “seasoned Nashville steel players”, the young musician upped sticks and found a “nice little crowd of weirdos” in his chosen city.
Cullum has always maintained a somewhat silent presence - even now saying “I still want to hide behind my pedal steel in fear” - but 2020 saw him release his debut solo effort, Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection. Despite his project with Jeremy Fetzer, Steelism, showing off more of his talents, never before had he felt the limelight so firmly on him.
Although …Coin Collection’s modus operandi was "a very quintessential English folk record, but with really good Nashville players”, Cullum says of ...Coin Collection 2 that “I wanted to be different. I wanted to try and pull away from wearing my influences on my sleeve… I was trying to pick out ideas that were new to me. You can never escape your musical influences but I wanted them to be more hidden sub-consciously than upfront.” Though you can pick out the odd similarity to other things here and there - The Beach Boys’ Friends LP, perhaps, or The Incredible String Band, or Joni Mitchell - the thing is decidedly Cullum’s own. What’s also reassuring is that there hasn’t been some giant sonic leap from …Coin Collection, rather that the beautifully sun-kissed, English country garden, bees-buzzing-round-lager atmosphere has remained, but complicated, weirded, deepened.
Much in the same way that the album doesn’t wear its influences (Amon Duul II, Skip Spence, Ennio Morricone, Chu Kosaka, Michael Chapman) lightly but rather is steeped in them and toys with them, Cullum brought in a host of guests to turn…Coin Collection 2 loose from being a purely solo effort. Yuma Abe provides fractured, low-register chorus vocals that accentuate the ever-so-slightly mournful air to ‘Kingdom Weather’, while Dana Gavanski provides beautiful harmony lines in ‘What A Waste Of An Echo’. Despite the number of collaborators and players (also including Rich Ruth, Erin Rae, and Caitlin Rose) things never seem too crowded or brimming with too many ideas. Instead Cullum marshalls each moving party expertly.
Another reason …Coin Collection 2 feels so seamless is down to how quickly it was recorded. The album was tracked in two days (in Nashville, naturally), then vocals and strings were added afterwards. Cullum says “I like moving quickly. If you procrastinate the naivety is lost.” These songs, despite being somewhat calm and considered, have a certain essential precision to them. ‘Cold Damp Valley’ is light on its feet, deftly switching from intro to verse to chorus to post-chorus like the best of that gorgeously lazy Arthur-era Kinks. Likewise, ‘What A Waste Of An Echo’ has a constantly burbling undertow anchored by pattering drums and a scorching guitar solo. It’s this sense of undertow that is key in unlocking this album’s delights. In the same way that Cullum provides the pedal steel undertow of many huge artists’ music - Kesha, Lambchop, and more recently Angel Olsen - the genius in …Coin Collection 2 is in its subtlety, in what it murmurs rather than shouts.
Indeed, due to Cullum’s languid Romford burr (pitched somewhere between Robert Wyatt and Ray Davies), it only becomes clear when listening closely that some of the lyrics deal with weighty themes like dementia and violence. Cullum says that “I sat for a long time with the songs and wanted to find my own identity”, and …Coin Collection 2 suggests you do the same.
Spencer Cullum: Acoustic & Nylon guitars, Pedal Steel and Mellotron
Dominic Billett: Drums , Wurlitzer, Bass and Synths
G. Maxwell Zemanovic: Drums and Piano
Adam Bednarik: Bass and Upright Bass
Sean Thompson: Electric Guitar
Jim Hoke: Flutes, Clarinet and Autoharp
Rich Ruth: Synthesizers and Electric Guitar
Ethan Ballinger: Mandolin
Austin Hoke: Cello
Laura Epling: Violin
Jordan Lehning: String Arrangement for ‘That Same Day Departure’
Produced by Jeremy Ferguson & Spencer Cullum
Recorded and Engineered by Jeremy Ferguson at Battletapes Studios, Nashville, TN
Mixed by Jeremy Ferguson
Mastered By John Baldwin at Infrasonic Mastering
Album Photography by Angelina Castillo
Album Art by Darryl Norson
Styled by Sofia Carlson