Michigan singer-songwriter Chris Bathgate takes just enough time off between records that he needs to be reintroduced every time he resurfaces. His 2011 album Salt Year followed a four-year gap while its forthcoming follow-up, an EP called Old Factory, took nearly five.
While the songs on Old Factory have ties backward, they represent, just as well, a bridge forward. From Bathgate’s time away came a well-spring of creative muse, and songs for future albums are coming easily again. As for the songs themselves: Calvary, the lead single from Old Factory, feels akin to putting on that well worn plaid coat that’s kept you warm for so many years, lovingly frayed a bit at the seams, but as inviting as a glass of bourbon on a cold Michigan winter night. Songs like Wait, Red…
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…Arrow Highway, and Acorns are near classic Bathgate, weaving an atmosphere of gossamer around icy structures, while Big Ghost’s “static in my throat” could possibly be Bathgate talking about the swirl of what things were like and the possible finality of deciding to take leave of the industry for a bit, at once exciting and frightening.