Sold Used Cars, Paved Parking Lots

White Hinterland “Dreaming of the Plum Trees” – Casey Dienel — who you may remember from all those times I wrote about her debut album — is no longer called Casey Dienel anymore, or at least not in a “the name that goes on the spine of the cd/artist tag in the metadata” sense. At least partially in the interest of expanding her commercial appeal, she will now be recording under the name White Hinterland, presumably because market research showed that indie audiences are more willing to deal with a band name that is easily confused with White Williams, White Stripes, White Rabbits, and White Magic (not to mention a couple called the Hinterlands) than confront the reality that the music is the work of a single young woman. In my experience, indie labels and publicists like to claim that it’s easier to market a band rather than a solo artist, but I’m extremely dubious of that bit of conventional wisdom — if anything, it seems that the reverse is true in the larger marketplace. It just seems a bit silly to stake Ms. Dienel’s career on a tiny niche market (indie people) that is mostly quite hostile to female artists, particularly those who almost exclusively play jazzy piano-centric ballads.

Perhaps the best justification for the switch to the band name is that though Casey is clearly the dominant player, she is now working very closely with the other musicians. Whereas even the songs on Wind Up Canary that featured accompaniment seemed bare and unadorned, nearly everything on Phylactery Factory sounds active and full, with arrangements that emphasize movement and rhythm without crowding out Dienel’s piano parts or her delicate, keening voice. “Dreaming of the Plum Trees” in particular highlights the interaction of the full ensemble — her terrific rhythm section shimmies and shakes around her piano motif throughout the piece while her keyboard player slides around her notes, gradually tightening their part until it shifts into a braid-like outro. It’s a remarkable piece of music, effortlessly graceful while also playful and amusing in its lyrical detail and vocal delivery. (Click here to pre-order it from Dead Oceans.)

Meanwhile, on Fair Game: I was on the show last night to talk about songs by Marit Larsen, Katy Rose, and Siobhan Donaghy.

Elsewhere: Good to see that I’m not the only person who thought “Hey, what if Nick Denton had Heath Ledger killed to boost traffic on Gawker?”