A slice of "Sugar Head Pie"

Posted at 4:33 PM on February 26, 2010 by Chris Roberts

I sat down at Minneapolis singer songwriter Gretchen Seichrist's dining room table this morning to talk about her band "Patches and Gretchen's" transcending new record, "Sugar Head Pie." It looks nothing like the album photo pictured to the left. All the dolls had been stored away and Gretchen was sans clown make-up. But the late winter sun was streaming in and the walls were so overloaded with her art that the paintings seemed to jostle for space.

"Sugar Head Pie's" songs, adorned with banjos, echoey pianos, and guitars evoking the Stones or Stooges one minute and the Band or the Stray Gators the next, display a ragged, weary emotional truth. In some ways they're the loneliest, most desperate, desolate tunes you'll ever hear.

But enough of my faux music critic-speak. Gretchen had some interesting things to say about life as a single mom, creativity that springs from boredom, and her need for art that demands a response, be it a grunt, a gasp, or something more.

I'll be cobbling a story together on Patches and Gretchen in the coming days. Stay tuned. The cd release party for "Sugar Head Pie" is March 11th at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis. Meanwhile, you are ordered to learn more about Patches and Gretchen and hear Gretchen Seichrist's latest songs.

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