Finding My Religion #14: A Dozen New Songs Curated by the Priest - "Sabbaticalized"
We've taken our late-Summer break—reading, festival shows, concerts, moving, house projects, surgical procedures for our Chief Morale Officer, and a White Sox playoff run among other things—but we are now rested for the frenzied run up to year-end and beyond. We've got some big things cooking, too, so be prepared to ingest them in moderate to severe doses. Let's get back in the swing of things with a short new song mix. Only a small portion of the proceeds, I assure you.
FINDING MY RELIGION, VOLUME 14 - SABBATICALIZED
SIDE ONE
Intro: "Seán na Sagart" | The Mary Wallopers
"Seán na Sagart" is Irish Gaelic for "John of the Priests," an informal title given to renowned local horse thief John Mullowney back in the early-1700s. John, to avoid the death penalty for his crimes, agreed instead to be a priest hunter for Protestant "reformers." All in the name of religious purity, of course! What a fucking joke. Well, John was offered £100 for every bishop he killed and £20 for every priest (a tidy sum back then) and he was remarkably adept at the job, too, so much so, Catholic clergymen wore elaborate disguises to avoid his wrath. Even then, John made enough dough to keep his cupboard full of the finest whiskey, his primary vice. (I wonder how much a Pickled Priest would've been worth to him in the 18th century? Not much, I presume) Without the Mary Wallopers, these tales might have been lost to time, but these Irish rovers bring them back with the gusto of a pub-rock band on their new record, Paddywhackery. So grab a stool, a few pints of Guinness, and some chips (as shown above) and enjoy some good old-fashioned Irish storytelling.
01 "Cassette Mix Tape" | Ray Wylie Hubbard
I've found the perfect song to start our latest new music mix, although back in my day, saying “cassette mix tape” would’ve been redundant—a cassette implied it was a tape. These days, with the advent of curated digital “mixtapes,” I suppose we now need to clarify such things. Legendary Texas outlaw Ray Wylie Hubbard, a lyricist of some renown thanks to his no-bullshit attitude and a poet's eye for wordplay, brings us back to his youth on the song, where a curated playlist popped into the dash of a Chevy Vega could result in a trip to a cramped backseat if you found the right combination of willing girl and mood music. His track list includes: “Radar Love” by Golden Earring, Neil Young’s “Tonight’s the Night,” the Stones’ “Brown Sugar,” and Bob Seger’s “Night Moves”—not a bad start. By the track's end, Hubbard paints a vivid picture of the scene in his signature wry style—with a vocal delivery that blends a little Waylon Jennings with a southern drawl akin to a male Lucinda Williams. Not a bad combination if I do say so myself.
02 "Jungle Roux" | The Afghan Whigs
The vitality of the Afghan Whigs, an entity started in 1988 and restarted in 2014 after a 16 hiatus, continues to amaze on their latest record, Soft Control . Their new record is part of an unexpected late-career resurgence that has proven definitively that once you’ve got "it," you don’t necessarily have to lose it as you get older. Greg Dulli (whose first name seems woefully inadequate for such a dynamic presence) is now 61, so he could be in jeopardy of coming off like a lecherous creep if not for the fact he’s always kinda sounded like one, so nothing has really changed. And, it should be said, we like him that way. The persona suits his dark, noirish rock songs perfectly. And, man, does this guy understand the value of grabbing you by the lapels with a propulsive opening track. “Jungle Roux” is one of his best songs ever, setting the mood right off the bat with gospel overtones and some soulful backing vocals, all which complement the song’s swirling, exotic rhythms. I sure hope he brings a full band, complete with background singers, when his band comes to Chicago in mid-November. I can't wait.
03 "Mercury" | Upper Wilds
When I wrote about the return of Brooklyn’s Parts & Labor just one post ago, I had no idea their frontman, Dan Friel, was also about to unleash a new Upper Wilds album on us just a few weeks later. For the first time, the Wilds now exist in the same universe as Parts & Labor, an awesome celestial alignment to rival a solar eclipse or a blood moon. And who better to manage such a coexistence than a band that's named their previous albums Mars, Venus, and Jupiter ? Well, the band’s latest album is titled Mercury this time, which is fitting when you consider the sound of the record. 2023’s Jupiter was an enormous beast of a record, mirroring that planet’s massive size and stature in the solar system. But Mercury , on the other hand, is a speed demon of a record, and just like the planet, which orbits the sun every 88 days (as opposed to Jupiter's 4,333!) Friel and his cohorts have accelerated the pace accordingly as if they realize they're working under time pressure. The album moves at a breathtaking, exhilarating clip and opening track “Mercury” announces their mission statement with frenetic, rocket-fueled urgency. At this point, I hope the band never comes back to Earth. Plus, we still have Neptune, Uranus, and Saturn to go, and what the hell, Pluto, you can come along, too.
04 "Leadweight" | Stef Chura
I’ve been waiting a long time for this one. I admired Stef’s 2019 record, Midnight , but not a peep from her since. What happened? With Dancing Alone on the Concrete, the Michigan rocker is back and as good as ever, if not better. She’s grown as an artist, but her lyrical bite remains strong, her songwriting sharp, and her voice, which reminds me a little of Francie Medosch of Florry in its perfect imperfections, brings just the right amount of real world genuineness to her songs. “Leadweight,” sports a VU downtown churn and ranks up there with “Method Man” (from Midnight) as my favorite songs of hers to date. Also try “Danny,” a companion track to this one of sorts, which is equally good. A sleeper record, so don't sleep on it. It's that simple.
05 "Modernism" | Perennial
The biggest surprise on my Top 10 Songs list last year was Perennial’s instant art-rock, post-punk classic, “Baby, Are You Abstract?” a band-defining single tacked onto their debut record’s expanded edition (recorded too late to make the official album). The band smartly adds (and expands by thirty seconds) that song to their 2026 album, Modernism, to formally give it proper status as an album track. Since we’ve used that cut already, we’ll move on to album opener and title-track, “Modernism,” another track that proves the band is more than a one-single wonder. Interestingly, “Modernism” begins with a reprise of that track, perhaps for continuity's sake. “I’m feelin’ abstract” sings Chelsey Hahn, as if the band's songs can only be written in a very specific frame of mind. Let's get to the studio, then! Modernism in general taps into the cultural idea of breaking away from the traditional, eschewing old rules and traditions in the process. That’s a concept to which I can relate, in fact I try to embody it on this blog whenever possible. All this, and the song is in-and-out in less than 90-seconds. If that’s what they mean by modernism, count me in. In total, a great little mod record that sounds like it's from the 60's Northwest garage scene, but actually hails from 20's New England. I'll take stuff this good anytime from any place. I'm not picky.
SIDE TWO
06 "Want You to Love" | Son Lux
I admit I didn’t quite cotton to Son Lux right away, more of a passing acquaintance over the years. Then I saw them live at Chicago’s Sound & Gravity Festival this year and I was entranced by their combination of live instrumentation and electronic experimentation, all executed with a cinematic sweep. I’m not doing them justice—perhaps this is a band that needs to be seen to be understood. Without that added factor, I'm not sure I would've properly absorbed the subtle brilliance of Ryan Lott’s compositions, the myriad contributions of guitarist (and sound artist) Rafiq Bhatia, and perhaps most of all, the brilliance of versatile drummer Ian Chang, who I couldn’t keep my eyes off the entire set—he was perpetual economic motion at all times, in full command of his kit at all times. So I locked in too late, nothing new, for they have released many records and have even been nominated for an Academy Award (for the score of Everything Everywhere All At Once), but Out Into, their new album, is simply fantastic. It opens with “Want You to Love” a desperate, mesmerizing plea for the combination to a locked heart. It’s the most devastating love song you’ll hear this year.
07 "I It Am" | Susanne Sundfør with Kit Downes
Her last album, Blómi , was a Pickled Priest Top 50 selection in 2023. This year we get Revelations of Divine Love , a record inspired by the works of Julian of Norwich, the mystic/anchoress behind what is believed to be the earliest surviving English book written by a woman. With the aid of a calculator, Susanne's musical homage to that work has been 650 years in the offing! How's that for staying power? Yup, the ambitious Norwegian—not one to fill the world with silly love songs—has translated Julian's texts into music as only she can. And I must say, Sundfør's work here often touches on the divine, just as promised. "I It Am" is a particularly gorgeous entry point. As you might expect, every other wordeth endeth in eitherest an -eth or -est suffix, but heyeth, times werest morest formalest backeth theneth, but there's no denying the results are often magical, with considerable credit going to pipe organist Kit Downes (the Norwegian equivalent of Anna von Hausswolff perhaps?). The ambience she adds gives the songs, all recorded in a Norwegian church, a majestic depth that must do justice to the original texts. I haven't read them, but it has to be so.
08 "Say Something" | Sera Cahoone
Sub Pop snuck out this captivating singer/songwriter record without much fanfare this year, but it’s become one of my most played albums of 2026 so far mainly because it hits one of my main sweet spots. That spot is reserved for simple songs sung well. That's doesn't seem like a lot to ask for, but artists like this aren't as common as you might think. Sera's songs feel organic, a touch of Laurel Canyon ease with an occasional dip into country textures, as on "Say Something," one of the record's many standout moments. Nothing too fancy here, just well-played songs by a gal in a stocking cap, fleshed out by a band just enough to make them stand out from the crowd, but not drive them away.
09 "Sensational" | Wishy
Indianapolis's Wishy haven't fully landed yet, but they are circling the airport. Their new record is never displeasing, but the moments of greatness, like on "Lovesick" and "Sensational," need to be more frequent. Still, this is a promising noise-pop band from an area of the country that doesn't check in very often. We'll see if more songs take root, but for now they've done enough to get the fuck out of Indiana once and for all.
10 "Love & Heartbreak in High School" | Plastic Family
This is a bit of a lark, but Plastic Family have made a cheeky little power-pop record that looks, sounds, and acts like it's still the early-1970s, with enough teenage anxiety to fuel a dermatologist’s office for years to come. I resisted this one for a while, as the innocence has to be a bit of a put-on, but fuck me if it doesn’t still amuse when it pops up on a playlist. If Big Star exclusively made music for high school freshmen and sophomores, maybe this is what they would've sounded like. Whether or not that's a compliment is up to you to decide.
Outro: "Ulysse" | Jean-Michel Blais
A former Pickled Priest Album of the Year winner with Aubades in 2022—a shocking result that I stand by—Canadian modern-classical pianist Jean-Michel Blais is back to astound us with his genius once again. After a couple albums of minimal living room piano recitals we got the spectacular Aubades, a power move to something much more ambitious and unexpected, and now J-MB returns with something even more audacious. His piano is still front and center and always will be, but this time he's added strings and a wordless choir to accent his compositions—a development I wasn't prepared for, but now understand to be a natural extension of this artist's singular creative vision. "Ulysse" is a good example of his latest foray, but don't give up until you hear "Savane," too. Both find him pushing his art to the next level. In the process, he’s created a masterpiece of a different sort, but this is undoubtedly another watershed moment for the Québécois.
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Recharged and ready to go.
Cheers,
The Priest