This week in Freak Scene, I battle through jet lag for the 100th issue of this newsletter, which digs into the new album from Western Mass. singer, songwriter and all-around smart-aleck Cheer Captain. Thank you for all your support!

It doesn’t take too long to realize that A Painting You Can’t Afford to See, Graham Rowe’s smart, pointed new bedroom-pop album as Cheer Captain, is an act of resistance. Their preferred tactic: irreverence.

The Western Mass. singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist was working on the song “Spain’s First Astronaut” in 2024 as the prospects for American democracy were growing ever dimmer. The song is a folky genre exercise about the 1973 assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco, Spain’s Francoist prime minister, who was killed when Basque separatists detonated an enormous bomb they had hidden under the road his car was traveling on. The blast sent the vehicle soaring over the five-story church that Carrero had just left, prompting jokes in Spain that he was the country’s first astronaut.

“But I was stuck at the final verse for months: ‘What can we learn?’” Rowe wrote last February when they released the track as a single. “What, if anything, is the point of an admittedly entertaining story of a fascist getting got?”

The answer, they realized, was pretty straightforward: “The last place I wanted to be was telling anyone, least of all myself, what kind of resistance is advantageous, what tactics are effective,” wrote Rowe, who also plays bass in Burning Daylight. “In short: what do you do with a fascist? And the only answer I could arrive at was at least you don't play by their rules.”

That’s where the irreverence comes in, though Rowe’s palette on these 14 songs is broader than simply spoofing authoritarians. They also skewer baby boomers, cops, people who pick stocks (“Day traders don’t jump that much anymore,” Rowe sings on “Day Traders,” an acoustic tune with a bluesy tinge) and themselves. Musically, the songs are versatile on A Painting You Can’t Afford to See. Rowe explores punchy power-pop on “Enemies to Lovers Arc,” which opens the album with overdriven guitars and a bright vocal melody (Rowe wrote, performed and recorded everything here), dabbles in a grungier slacker-rock sound on “Too Stoned Nintendo” and runs headlong into pop-punk on “Boomer Dudes,” an 84-second track where Rowe describes a dream where they’re with their father in the parking lot of a concert. “Hey Dad, it’s the fucking Eagles,” Rowe sings. “Are we gonna get high or what?”

Cheer CaptainA Painting You Can't Afford To See

For all their equal-opportunity satirizing, Rowe shows a special disdain for authoritarians. “WIENER DEMEANOR” doesn’t mention any names, but the subject matter is pretty clear when they sing about “the voice of a nation despite any allegations he might have” over chugging electric guitar and the crisp snap of a snare drum. “Jerk Off Instructions” is even more direct: the lyrics consist entirely of Rowe repeating “You don’t need to take instructions from these jerk-offs,” backed by fuzz-tone guitars that crisscross and intertwine.

Not only is that sentiment irreverent, it’s cathartic. “Do not obey in advance,” the historian Timothy Snyder wrote about resisting tyranny. Rowe goes one better on A Painting You Can’t Afford to See: do not obey, period. And if you really want to get authoritarians in a twist, laugh at them.

Upcoming Concerts

The Iron Horse marks its 47th anniversary Feb. 1 with founder Jordi Herrold in conversation with Jim Olsen of Signature Sounds; it's free but you should RSVP here. The venue also hosts Misty Blues Jan. 21 (tickets), rescheduled shows with Deer Tick and LuxDeluxe March 11-12 (tickets), prog-rock trio Stick Men, featuring Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto and Markus Reuter March 31 (tickets) and Nashville singer-songwriter Liz Longley June 12 (tickets).

The Drake in Amherst hosts Western Mass./Connecticut rockers Slant of Light for an EP-release show Feb. 7 with Landowner and Outro (tickets). Easthampton indie-pop group All Feels are there Feb. 20 (tickets) in conjunction with the release of their upcoming EP, Evasive Sentimental, and Hadley's Muswell Hillbillies perform Feb. 27 (tickets).

The Space Ballroom in Hamden hosts Scranton, Pa., emo band Tigers Jaw April 3 (tickets) and Philly indie-rockers Gladie May 6 (tickets).

That’s it for now — thank you for reading! If you like what you’ve seen, please share. Also, I’m always open to submissions. You can send music for coverage consideration to erdanton at gmail or reply to this email. Check out these guidelines first.

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