by Joseph Purcell

Orindal Records, the Chicago based brainchild of Advance Base maestro, Owen Ashworth, are on quite the run. 2018’s Gia Margaret record was followed by extraordinary albums in 2019 by Claire Cronin and second Friendship long play, Dreamin’. This week, the same label hosts an early contender for end of year lists with the sophomore release from North Carolina natives, Wednesday.

I was Trying to Describe You to Someone is Wednesday’s first full band recording – and beautifully captures the contrasting sounds of Karly Hatzman’s whimsical and enthralling vocal against the expertly cast musical backdrop of gentle colliding guitars, fuzzy bass, pedal steel and perfectly placed drums. Its eight tracks melt together in a glorious homage to the sounds of the alternative Americana as shoegaze, grunge and slacker guitar pop all abound and fuse with energy. This is none more evident than on advance single, November – a gently winding track that has stripped back beginnings, before and explosion of enchanting warmth. Hartzman appears equally fragile and bold, as she grips hold of a perfect three minutes of personal and tender songwriting.

The splendid Maura packs a punch that evokes the memory of Kim Deal’s glorious turn on Gigantic – raw, emotional and vital. Fate is… and Billboard find Hartzman at the epicentre of the raucous distortion and escalating blasts of sound – her vocal and gentle, as an almost overwhelming backdrop envelops her.

Hartzman describes her lyrics as ‘attempts to access old personal memories and do them justice,’ citing novelists Richard Brautigan & Flannery O’Connor beside the sorely missed David Berman as influences, and it is on final track, Revenge of the Lawn, where she – herself – is cast in the role of spellbinding narrator.

I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone is packed with creative energy and is one not to be missed. Orindal have done it again.

Secret Meeting: 86

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