Guest Contributor #8: Never Angeline North
Last guest contributor (Andy Fox) played The Scrambler in DeKalb, IL. Today's guest also did too, as the band Tinyfolk! Never is a truly incredible writer and friend. So grateful for these words!
1. What is a movie that you think people should know about that speaks to you?
My favorite musical film of all time is Bob Fosse's directorial debut, Sweet Charity. It is an anti-romcom romcom about a hopeless romantic prostitute who learns some major life lessons that I've had to learn myself over the years.
Spoilers ahead. The lead character, Charity Hope Valentine, falls in love with a man who seems to be perfect for her, a man who seems perfectly poised to pull her out of the rut of poverty and shame she feels around her job. But it turns out, as he learns more about her, he finds he can't quite stomach being with a woman who has had to do the things that Charity has had to do to get by, and he leaves her. By the end of the film Charity is back where she was at the beginning, but after her initial despair, she bounces back, and we end with her having regained her hope without having the savior she had been pining for.
I think for most of my life I wanted someone to come along, to notice me and pull me out of my life circumstances, out of poverty, or obscurity, or depression. I was a romantic at heart and there is a romantic hope to this way of thinking. When I met my wife, who was struggling in many of the same ways I was, I began to really realize that no one would ever "save" me. That type of thinking is a road that mostly leads to disappointment, and adapting yourself to what can realistically be done on your own, within your means is sometimes necessary. Dreaming big is fine and sometimes it's worth making a swing for the fences, but dreaming small can offer a way forward when you feel trapped.
2. What is a favorite song that made you excited to explore a band / artist's career further? What is it about that song that resonates so strongly?
first heard the song TELEPHONE LINE 415 by Underscores in 2020, on a Spotify playlist shortly after it was released. It has a lot of the hallmarks of a bedroom pop jam with synth that purr and drums that click and pop, processed vocals and electric organ sounds. But it quickly becomes clear that April Grey has more up her sleeve. R&b vocalizations slip in, only to be tossed away just as quickly. Strings swell to an emotional high and then disappear to leave us back to staccato organ again. It was at this point I realized that April is a massive talent as a producer, vocalist and songwriter. Her work comes out fully formed and packed to the gills with idea after idea. You never know where she will go next from second to second, minute to minute. Underneath all this is an earnest emotionality, tempered by a strong lyrical songcraft instincts.
I bought the EP it was on, titled Character Development, and quickly found myself buying everything else. When her first full-length album--Fishmonger--dropped, I bought it immediately. I was shocked at how different it sounded, but not disappointed in the least.
Last year I got the chance to see her on tour. Her newest album, Wallsocket, came out the same month, though I didn't listen to it right away. When I came to the show, I was blown away by the new songs. The room was full of kids, and I felt like a mother chaperoning a bunch of nineteen-year-olds, but I forgot pretty quickly and fell in love w the new songs. I've been listening to Wallsocket regularly since. Her songwriting has developed a strong sense of storytelling, and her earnest emotional lyrics have matured, now she is giving us fully fleshed out worlds and characters. I cannot say enough good about Underscores. They are probably my favorite new band to come out in the last five years. The kids are alright.
3. What does your perfect comfort meal consist of?
Just give me a giant platter of Injera, a sampling of different Ethiopian dishes on top and a few friends to share it with. It's all I could ever want out of a meal!
4. What is something that moves you to tears (film, song, book, anything)?
The most recent was the movie I Saw the TV Glow.
The most unexpected was the 2006 instrumental album Osaka Bridge by Bill Wells & Maher Shalal Hash Baz, which has become one of my all-time favorite albums ever.
I cry every time I read a good trans book. Little Fish by Casey Plett hit me hard. Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton destroyed me.
Along those lines, Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante is a masterpiece. It's a novel that takes the form of a fan encyclopedia. The encyclopedia is about a fictional television show called Little Blue that the narrator is writing in memory of her friend Vivian who died by suicide. The different entries discuss her memories of learning about the show from Vivian, about them watching it together, about characters that were her favorites, that were Vivian's favorites. Both Vivian and the narrator are trans women, as is the author, as am I and most of my loved ones, so it hits me particularly hard.
Never Angeline North is a writer, artist and musician living in Olympia, WA. She is the author of the books Rainbear!!!!!!!!!, Sea-Witch, Careful Mountain, and the forthcoming title I Lived a Life as a Cloud that Followed Overhead (2025, Inside the Castle). She was formerly in the bands Pretty Swans and Tinyfolk. Find her work online at http://never.horse
All guest contributions available here: https://5years.substack.com/t/guest