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Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not Minneapolitan Gretchen Seichrist’s. The comparison to Patti Smith hits first, with Seichrist’s disconcertingly deadpan alto vocals coming at you like an outtake from Waves on the scintillating “Time Of The Lilacs.” But with her crack backing band of Minneapolis folkies (Terry Eason, Derek Rolando, David Loy, and producer Rich Mattson,) Seichrist soon establishes herself as a very distinct personality, mixing bar-room rock ‘n’ roll, country skronk, John Wesley Harding-era Dylan, backporch folk, husky ballads, and sinuous lounge-punk. And when she mixes punk with poetry – as on the captivating “Ghosts I Love” – she’ll have you, well, dancing barefoot.

Sugar Head Pie weaves a colorful quilt, from the quiet melancholy of “Sweet Wolves” to the Velvet Underground guitar jangle of “Take the Gauze Off” to the mystic and dulcimer-soaked closer, “Everything Is Indian.” Sugar Head Pie is stunning in its scope and beauty, continually revealing and dazzling—a perennial.

This is a terrific record, and hopefully the varied approach – musically and lyrically – will give it a broad appeal. Apart from the entry-point Patti Smith and Chrissie Hynde references, there’s a wealth of things to enjoy here – a really tight, flexible and imaginative group of musicians giving their all to some thoughtful and intense songs. There’s generally a raw punky energy to the faster tracks, combined with a hint of the more decadent end of early 70′s rock, and this works really well with the slower, acoustic feel of other songs.

Heretofore best known as Grammy-winning singer Aimee Mann‘s quirky sister,Gretchen Seichrist brazenly steps into her own light on her sophomore disc under the alias Patches & Gretchen, “Sugar Head Pie” — and it’s quite a searing, squint-inducing light at that. Imagine Chrissie Hynde if she were really into barbecue, or Patti Smith if she knew how to make hot dish, and you get an idea of the album’s odd charm and meaty power.

You know a masterpiece when you hear it. One of those addictions you played the hell out of, start to finish, over and over. An album. A collection of songs written and recorded and sequenced with great care and consideration for the listener, the art lover, the reader, the lucky one who stumbles upon this aural glue that connects you with the past and future and nails what Jon Stewart was talking about at the Kennedy Center Awards recently, about Springsteen’s “ongoing conversation with his audience.” That’s what I have with “Sugar Head Pie” — an ongoing conversation — and it’s a beautiful thing.

On her second, Rich Mattson-produced outing, Sugar Head Pie, Minneapolis-based singer/songwriter Gretchen Seichrist drops a bevy of alternatingly bouncy and bittersweet musical bombshells. Kicking off with with the razor-sharp cut “Time Of The Lilacs,” Seichrist plies her plucky, dusky pipes to her dazzling wordplay and positively smokin’ band (featuring, this time ’round, the likes of Terry Eason, Derek Rolando, David Loy, Mattson himself, and more talented local artists than we have room here to list) with all the inherent chutzpah of some of her main influences- Patti Smith, Dylan, and “sister Golden Hair” Aimee Mann. Standout cuts here include the above-mentioned opener, the blazing punk gem “Crying States,” the country-fried confessional “Big Things,” the cut-n’-run classic-to-be title track, and the smoky opus “Sweet Wolves,” but frankly, there’s simply not a bad song in this batch. Seichrist champions the little beauties in life, laments the loss of humanity and compassion in a world growing ever colder, and celebrates the simple joys of family, friends, and community. Which leaves us with one burning question- who is Patches? I am. She is. Her ever-evolving band is. Her family and friends are. Most importantly, you are. Don’t miss your chance to fill in your blank square this Thursday, March 11th, when Patches And Gretchen perform at The Varsity Theater.

  • Peter Himmelman

What a haunting piece of work. Amazing stirring lyrical images…who are you girl?

Created with borrowed money and the help of generous and talented friends, this CD, named after the legendary album by the Band, captures the sweet-sweet fringy feel of a group of friends playing guitars by a bonfire in the woods circa 1968, hand-painted in lush sepia tones. The images in these songs are both bittersweet and joyful—while the daddies may be gone, the children still spray hoses in the air, slow motion, on a fine summer’s day, but Mama’s mascara is a little smeared and her granny apron is faded, too.

Album of the Year (So Far) Sugar Head Pie by Patches + Gretchen Don’t let her tipsy, tobacco-voiced delivery fool you: Local songsmith Gretchen Seichrist is clear-eyed and in control on her second album, a superb collection of broken down Americana bolstered by Seichrist’s evocative, goose bump-inducing lyrics.

Shows

  • Star Tribune Blogs on First Night at The Dakota
    Dressed in a fancy thrift store gown, Seichrist, 45, was full of trembling intensity, all Dylanesque phrasing, nervous energy and kitchen-sink theatrics (she had the lyrics to one song taped to the inside of a frying pan). After turning into Patti Smith’s little sister with some proto-feminist rock ‘n’ roll poetry, Seichrist explained, “I’m not just angry. I’m other things, too.” (Photos from CityPages)

Expanding on the groundwork she laid down on her debut The Big Pink, Sugar Head Pie makes it all the more evident that Seichrist’s artistic vision comes from living in a world that few of us ever even visit. (Some of us never go there, if we’re lucky, or unlucky as the case may be, as it’s a place of often beautiful, though often harsh realities.) As way of metaphor, I found myself relying on how Bill Burroughs described the title of his novel Naked Lunch, which came to him via Jack Kerouac: “A frozen moment when everyone sees what is on the end of every fork.” Seichrist tells it like it is.

Avant garde local singer-songwriter Gretchen Seichrist, a.k.a. Patches & Gretchen, took over the Varsity Theater last night for a CD-release show in honor of her sophomore album Sugar Head Pie, which opener Adam Levy called a “freakout folk punk masterpiece.”

There are plenty of reasons why a 45-year-old painter, poet, and mother of two shouldn’t start a band, and Gretchen Seichrist has ignored all of them. Much to her own surprise, Seichrist’s second CD, Sugar Head Pie, was just released, and her band, Patches & Gretchen, is making the local club rounds.

Interviews

I like names in pairs – it’s funny to me – and I couldn’t figure out at the time who was going to help me do what I was doing so I put a patch on it, because I didn’t feel like waiting for somebody. And you know everything is a fucking patch.

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