Couch Potatoes// Living Room Songs

—by jack

I took the northbound 2/3 train to Harlem on a gray and raining Friday afternoon, peak rush hour, to meet singer/songwriter TICA DOUGLAS and her bandmate Kallie C. Tica lives in a brick apartment with an analog elevator and very small bedrooms. She’s got big, smiling eyes, has a style that could be described as Indigo Girl meets Frat Boy, and sings with this dexterous voice that sneaks back and forth between virtuosic and quirky. She’s hard to describe just right.

I showed up at her place about half an hour late, but no one really seemed to notice. We chatted about Murakami novels and video games, complained that the pipes in her apartment went on and off frequently and made this hissing/clanking/heaving noise come straight from hell.

We moved the air mattress from her bedroom so her, Kallie C and me could all fit. And we did a lot of songs. Three, if I remember right, so more will be coming this week via our all new RAW BAR. 

This was a really fun shoot for me. Kallie does this wonderfully strange thing on the fiddle where she plucks, slaps, and taps it, then out of nowhere whips out a bow and transforms it into a violin briefly. Tica’s voice always seems to ebb and flow with her accompanist’s instrument. Her lyrics are grounded until they’re suddenly metaphysical—practical until the poetry surprises you. I hope you enjoy her songs this week.