Portland’s iconic outfit Federale presents their latest single ‘The Worst Thing I Ever Did Was Ever Loving You’ feat. Jenny Don’t, a song cast in the mold of the storied duets of Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra. This superb duet is from Federale’s sixth studio album ‘Reverb & Seduction’, newly released via Jealous Butcher Records. Led by Collin Hegna, a long-standing member of The Brian Jonestown Massacre, this record marks the band’s 20th anniversary.
Set to a Beatles-inspired backbeat and adorned with period-correct strings and pedal steel, this song is an homage to the sounds of 1968. A time when psychedelia, country, rock, soul and crooners all started blending together to create a melange of genres that could only exist in that magical point in time. Except it exists now too thanks to Federale & Ameripolitan Music Awards-winning chanteuse Jenny Don’t of Jenny Don’t and The Spurs.

Often in the Hazlewood-penned songs of the late 60s, Lee would write about a bedraggled yet loveable rogue that somewhat resembles himself but notably this character is always down on his luck. And the object of his affections simultaneously mocks him but can’t quite give him up. In Federale’s “The Worst Thing..” we find Jenny Don’t taking up the mantle of the femme fatale that’s just had enough of her loser worser half. Meanwhile, Federale’s Collin Hegna goes down a laundry list of all the bad things he’s done (and there’s plenty), but somehow the worst thing he ever did was falling in love. Not even his worst behaviour (involving booze, drugs, gambling, and winding up with a bloody nose from something or other) can rival his moral ineptitude in causing a good woman to fall for a bad man. But Jenny has had enough of his bragging and excuses. She knows the score and isn’t afraid to let this loser know who’s won and who’s lost. And it ain’t her.

For over a dozen years, Jenny Don’t and The Spurs has been known for their high-energy Country Western style and captivating stage presence, having garnered a global following with their infectious enthusiasm. Collin Hegna also happened to record and mix the band’s latest record ‘Broken Hearted Blue’ (out now on Fluff & Gravy Records) at Revolver Studios in Portland.

Filmed entirely on 16mm Kodak 200t film, the video for ‘The Worst Thing’ was inspired by the amazing one-shot music videos of the late 60s that were seen on shows such as the Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show. Often shot live with little to no editing, they often featured minimal sets and creative theatrical lighting. With the performers often lip-syncing to their pre-recorded material, it was up to the camera and the performer to bring the performance to life.

This video involved three takes straight through so that the singer’s positions could be shifted for the various points of view being portrayed in the lyrics of the song. The only editing entailed cutting between takes to create this effect. Cinematographer Joe Bowden used the Eclair NPR 16mm camera, created in 1963 in France – revolutionary for its portability and noiseless design, and  a favorite of documentary and independent filmmakers of the 1960s and 70s. Shot in Portland, Oregon at Desert Island Studios, this film is an authentic representation of how music videos were created in the era the song is set in.

The ‘Reverb & Seduction’ album is a 10-track tour-de-force road trip from psych rock to country duets, never straying too far from the spaghetti western roots that inspired the band many blood-moons ago. What began as an homage to those cinematic soundscapes of the Italian 60s has evolved well past those not-so-humble beginnings, with Federale now also drawing from wide-ranging inspirations.


The throughline in all these influences is a penchant for the darkly romantic. Our narrator guiding us through these stories delivers the news in deep baritone reflecting the gravitas of the song’s arrangements. Distorted guitars, mellotrons and 70s inspired string arrangements sit side by side with driving drum patterns and moaning pedal steel. This goat’s head alphabet soup of inspirations mingles to create a sum stranger than the whole of its parts. A siren calls us in the night towards certain destruction, but its song is so beautiful we cannot resist.

Recorded at Revolver Studios in Portland, this album was engineered by Collin Hegna, Matt Thomson and Andrew Joslyn, who boasts five 5 Grammy Award winning albums. Mixed by Hegna with Jeff Stuart Saltzman (The Black Keys, The High Violets) and Matt Thomson, it was mastered by Adam Gonsalves at Telegraph Mastering. The album also involves numerous Portland rock-scene vets, including talents from The Dandy Warhols, The Shivas, Roselit Bone, Rogue Wave and Delines.  Members of The Black Angels, Mission Spotlight and Courtney Barnett’s Band, plus Grammy-nominated producer Hunter Lea (Nancy Sinatra / Lee Hazlewood reissues) and Andrew Joslyn (Nancy Wilson, Kei$ha, Macklemore, Mark Lanegan),

Federale has carved out a unique niche within the indie music landscape, blending their signature spaghetti-Western instrumental sound with increasing doses of moody vocal arrangements in the spirit of Lee Hazlewood and late Leonard Cohen. Maintaining a retro vibe, Federale’s records have always sounded period-correct for an alternate-universe 1971, where rock and roll never caught on. Earlier, the band shared the singles ‘Heaven Forgive Me’, ‘No Strangers’ and ‘Advice From A Stranger’

The film industry continues to take notice as well: The band’s latest licensing successes include placing tracks in the trailer for the Colin Farrell / Brendan Gleeson vehicle ‘Banshees Of Inisherin’, as well as in the Kate Hudson thriller ‘Mona Lisa & The Blood Moon’ and Swiss action/comedy ‘Mad Heidi’.

‘Reverb & Seduction’ is out now everywhere digitally, including Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and Bandcamp. Also released on CD and limited edition vinyl, the album available from fine record dealers and via Bandcamp.

Discover more from Dancing About Architecture

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Leave a Reply