battick
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"I am reborn now baby, haven’t you heard?” sings Jakob Battick over the stark and affectless opening chords of “Brand New Thunderbird Blues.” It’s the opening track from his new album To Be Born Again & Again, and his hopeful, mournful, slow-boiled croon is familiar to Portland ears.

Nearly 10 years ago, the Phoenix received a package from Battick in some artfully hand-rendered, twine-bound cardboard pouch. It contained a self-produced CD-R with a thoughtful, handwritten note in (what I recall) bearing distinct formal handwriting. I don’t remember what it said, but it was gracious and kind — a little affectatious, maybe, but only because its author was interested in making bold choices, and those choices weren’t exclusively culled from the traditions of the environment we were living in.