Charlie Havenick’s “Sprinkler Song” employs a spare rhythm guitar riff through the first half of the song like an introspective mantra as slide guitar swells gently in the background as the backdrop to what sounds like part short story and diary entry. Havenick’s gentle vocals and lyrics establish a deep sense of place physically and in the mind. The given details of “a dog that barks when only I ride by” and “The sun stays out til I’m cloaked in the night” are subtly poetic in getting to the climax of the song when the guitar becomes distorted and all the sounds soar dramatically for a few moments before settling back into the more vulnerable and contemplative mood. It is at that point where Havenick reveals its a song that may be about conflicted and ambivalent feelings about loving someone with a self-awareness of her own that is mindful of how there are parts of your psychology that can be transformed for the worse when someone isn’t careful with your heart in the pursuit of a selfish emotional agenda. “I don’t want to hurt you. The kid with the wind in her sails” in the last two lines of the song is so sweet and tender and revealing that it’s easy to forget that Havenick’s song defies easy genre categorization and that it outros with ethereal piano work and you’re struck with the profound level of sensitivity and personal insight the songwriter brings to bear throughout what you’ve been hearing. Listen to “Sprinkler Song” on Spotify and follow Charlie Havenick on her website.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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