Derek Schultz, lead singer and guitarist of Owl Paws, has a new EP out today under his solo moniker Derek Ted. Released on Kevin Patrick’s label Sunroom Recordz & Salon, the five song collection is full of introspective ruminations on life, loneliness, that vague, distressing realization that things aren’t going exactly the way you hoped they would, that you’re getting old quicker than you expected and not quite prepared for the cold judgements of adulthood. “Isn’t it funny,” he muses on the haunting “Empty Arms”, “how people, like things, become obsolete objects in spite of their dreams.”

This is stripped down, raw, soul-searching, heart-aching folk music channeling the despondency of Hank Williams and helplessness of Elliot Smith. Title track “This Life Now” nearly killed me- a song about the bitter futility of nostalgia, how ephemeral memories of past happiness are little more than reconstructed narratives we convince ourselves were reality when, in fact, ‘reality didn’t know’ us then. “Twenty five years and life falls apart,” he sings morosely. “No money just songs and heart, but that’s not enough, to keep this up….”  Lyrics this brutally honest are sure to provide that cathartic release you’ve been looking for since that painful hangover on New Year’s Day.

Derek will officially release the EP on cassette at Viracocha on the 25th, so check out that show for a hard copy.

Native Sibling, Derek Ted, Grand Lake Islands, Robin Bacior
Viracocha
January 25, 2015
8pm, $10 (all ages)