Review Summary: indie/shoegazin' and country twangin' in the best kind of way
Is it country? is it shoegaze? how about indie rock? I mean...it's kinda all of em. Excluding association from that one girl in the Adam's Family. It's that mid-weekday that loves to ring in your ear to remind you that "hey sorry but...your week's not over yet my guy..." You also might be wondering “why does the album cover look like a dark and twisted take on Monty Python’s Holy Grail? Did the flying circus gang take a wrong turn?” And my answer to that is: Don’t worry about it. Wednesday's latest project 'Rat Saw God' is a step forward for this genre that seems to be slowly creeping out of that strange dark corner that is...bootgaze.
"Hot Rotten Grass Smell" starts things off with an eruption of noise rock riffs and guitar string bends that make you wonder "what the hell kinda dream am I having right now?" While "Bull Believer" continues this weird dream into a spiral of tragedy and questioning of faith. Where it's easy to believe and have faith in some higher source of power when everything is going smoothly. Where you and your God seem to be in control of the wheel in this race you call life. But when tragedy strikes or life-shattering events occur, fate or destiny seems to pull you back into a different state. A state of bewilderment. This state may even spiral you into a depression or a disassociation where you feel your body is just somewhere else. Where...you are not YOU presently in-time.
Comfort fools us into faith
Then fate pulls us away again
A corpse with a spirit
Got out of my bed today
Tragedy can affect someone in many different ways, and it often feels traumatic. Where you pop open bottle after bottle to help deal with the pain. An unhealthy coping mechanism that destroys more than it heals. Yet you can't help it while you see your friend's momument plotted on the side of the road. So you go on with your life and try to cope...you might look fine...everything might seem peachy, but the reality is....is that you're actually screaming inside.
FINISH HIM. finish me. end me.
Wednesday's ability to relate those feelings of tragedy and being distant from life itself is truly impressive in "Bull Believer" to say the least. Rather than just tell a good ol' story through a country tune, it excels into making you feel empathy and relate to Hartzman's words. This track doesn't just tell you how it feels...it grabs you and mind-melds you into feeling every internal scream that cuts deep into you like a knife to the heart. It's ultimately surreal and honestly...brilliant.
"Formula One" is the track you can play in the background on a calm morning while you sit back and daydream along to those pleasantly sounding steel guitars that just sail through the air waves. If Clairo added more country-esque type of instrumentation to her music, I feel like this would be it. While "Chosen to Deserve" throws you into a feel-good country rock track that could champion your daily dose of Drive-By Truckers. "Bath Country" follows more of a grunge structure including more southern twang from Karly Hartzman as she implements the country vibrato into her vocal performance that's undeniably comforting. This vocal style can be found throughout all of 'Rat Saw God', but also through one of their earlier endeavors being 'Twin Plagues'. While this vocal style isn't particularly new by any means, her performance connects with the music so well that it makes this type of album a staple in the genre it's helping to build. Especially when her emotions bleed through while screaming lyrics like
FINISH HIM or
YOU'LL BE MY BABY 'TIL MY BODY'S IN THE GROUND.
While I could completely gloat on the rest of these tracks here like "Quarry" and "Turkey Vultures" or even "What's So Funny"...it would be a disservice for me to take your time away from actually listening to this little gem and enjoying the small stories it has to tell and the emotions it wants to evoke from you. Where diamonds are polished and cleansed from the ground is where this album lies and I'm completely floored by it.
FINISH HIM.
