Freak Scene #81: Salvation Alley String Band Return with 'Waltzing Alone'
Also, Enfield indie-pop musician Raeann Fetcho is really, really good on her new album 'Saint Kitschy.'
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
This week in Freak Scene, Salvation Alley String Band is back with their first album in a decade, while Enfield singer Raeann Fetcho comes out of nowhere with an indie-pop album that is close to perfect.
Love is at the heart of Waltzing Alone, Salvation Alley String Band’s first album since 2015: lost love, faded love, broken love, unrequited love. The Northampton band is deep into tongue-in-cheek romantic disasters on a dozen new tracks rooted in a honky-tonk sound fit for the dancehalls of Bakersfield, and shot through with bits of western swing and old-school rock ’n’ roll. That’s as it should be, because everyone knows that heartache and pedal steel guitar are a perfect match.
That’s not the case with the relationships in Salvation Alley’s songs, which take a wry approach to affairs of the heart. Opener “Half of All Weddings” envisions two endpoints for newlyweds: “Oh the best that you can hope for is divorce / Or you’ll be parted by the reaper in due course,” Ryan McGovern Quinn sings, dry as Death’s bony, beckoning finger, backed by acoustic guitars, the crack of a snare drum and harmony vocals, which give way to a twangy guitar break. A track later, on “Lie to Me,” the band splits the difference between Chuck Berry and rockabilly with clinking piano, a walking bassline and a fat electric guitar solo.
Though Quinn sings the bulk of the songs here, bassist Matt Silberstein steps up to the microphone on “My Whole World,” delivering a tuneful, lilting melody over whirring organ. Though the sound is sweet, the sentiment leans sour: “I wouldn’t promise my whole world to you,” he sings, and the tune has a bar-band field that would have fit right in on one of NRBQ’s late-’70s albums. Later, keyboardist Jason Mazzotta takes over on lead vocals on the tears-in-your-beer weeper “My Turn to Lose,” his mournful voice surrounded by sheets of pedal steel guitar.
The departure of two members at some point between albums means this incarnation of Salvation Alley has no female vocalist on staff. The band compensates on “100 Times a Day” with a guest spot from Fawns singer Lesa Bezo, who exchanges brave-faced lies with Quinn about how much neither is thinking of the other. It’s a winsome duet, though it can’t compare to “Woodlawn Avenue/Red River Valley/Northampton Misses You” for local color. Quinn and the band slide smoothly from citing local landmarks on “Woodlawn Avenue” into a version of the cowboy standard “Red River Valley” before tying it all together with a plea to a prodigal someone to come back to the Valley on “Northampton Misses You.” The interpolation is at once droll and heartfelt, though let’s be honest: if you’re walking downtown from Woodlawn, as Quinn describes, Elm is faster than Prospect.
Their preferred route from Child’s Park to Main Street is perhaps an indication that Salvation Alley String Band doesn’t mind going the long way, as long as they eventually arrive. Waltzing Alone, too, came the long way, but there’s no bad time to show up with an album as solid as this one.
Raeann Fetcho Is Ready to Be Heard on ‘Saint Kitschy’
Enfield musician Raeann Fetcho puts a thought into the universe right at the start of her new album, Saint Kitschy: “Maybe this’ll be the record / You’re finally gonna hear,” she sings to kick off the first track, “Girl of the Year.” It certainly should be. The couplet is the opening salvo of an album from a songwriter who has a startling facility with words, and a deep pocket full of melodies that she pairs them with.
Though she’s not (yet) widely heard, Fetcho has been releasing music since 2017, honing her pop instincts a few tracks at a time on singles and EPs. She’s witty and self-aware, with a penchant for vivid imagery, sharp irony and sometimes breathtaking vulnerability on bedroom-pop songs that are unfailingly smart. Saint Kitschy is her most accomplished work so far. Fetcho played all the instruments on the album, using mostly guitars, bass and drums to create low-key arrangements that bubble along beneath her high, clear voice. She can sound arch, or plaintive, on turns of phrase that are often beguilingly clever as she contends with the uncertainties of adulthood, social anxiety and, on “I Stole a Car,” pushing back against the inevitability of other people’s perceptions.
“Girl of the Year” finds Fetcho envisioning her music reaching an audience, and she unspools a string of sardonic indie-kid braggadocio about it, laced with a sliver of fatalism: “Like I swear this’ll be the record / That finally pays my rent / But I’ve thought so before / And I probably will again.” The music combines a bumpy bassline with spare drums and trebly electric guitar through stop-start moments that keep you leaning in. Prominent bass anchors “Strawberry Jam,” where she imagines faking her own death instead of continuing in a relationship she’s ready to be finished with, while muted, trebly guitar and the thock of a snare carry the dreamy love letter “Sleaze Sisters.”
Toward the end, Fetcho hints that she’s having second thoughts about whether to continue making music at all. On “Saint Kitschy’s Interlude,” she revisits the theme from “Girl of the Year,” musing over a keyboard vamp, “Maybe this’ll be the record / I use to say goodnight / Maybe this’ll be the final song / That I ever write.” That would be a tragedy: Saint Kitschy is first-rate work from a musician who has developed a compelling voice, as a singer and a songwriter, that is distinctly her own.
This Weekend
Northampton’s Teen Driver (as seen in Freak Scene #66) play tonight, Friday, Aug. 29 at JJ’s Tavern in Florence with Belfast, Maine, band Osmia and Northampton’s Saliba. Music at 7 p.m. with a $10 cover.
Easthampton band the Journals Kept (most recently, Freak Scene #68) perform Saturday, Aug. 30, with Snowglobe Almanac (the one-man keyboard-pop project of Western Mass. musician Robbie Juarez) and the Palmer indie-pop group Wispy Cauliflower at Luthier’s Co-op in Easthampton.
Amherst’s Wishbone Zoë (Freak Scene #67) caps off a bill Saturday, Aug. 30, at the Marigold Theater in Easthampton that also includes Fleuke and New Haven band Haunting Titans; there’s a $10 cover.
Upcoming Concerts
The former City Stage space in Springfield is back as the Hope Center for the Arts, which describes itself as a “creative campus in downtown Springfield, built for young people who deserve access to opportunity, mentorship, and the power of self-expression.” They’re also doing concerts, including Sweet Honey in the Rock Sept. 27 (tickets), John Pizzarelli and the Swing 7 Oct. 4 (tickets), BEAtrio — that is, Béla Fleck, Edmar Castañeda and Antonio Sanchez — Oct. 5 (tickets), Makaya McCraven Oct. 9 (tickets), avant-garde guitarist Rafiq Bhatia of Son Lux Oct. 10 (tickets), ambient electronic musician East Forest Nov. 8 (tickets), Latin jazz veteran Arturo Sandoval Nov. 14 (tickets), a cappella group Take 6 Dec. 11 (tickets), the Blind Boys of Alabama's Christmas show Dec. 20 (tickets) and Winter's Night — Lucy Kaplansky, Cliff Eberhardt, John Gorka and Patty Larkin — Jan. 22 (tickets).
The Drake in Amherst hosts New Bedford rock trio Morrissey Boulevard Oct. 3 (tickets) and Amanda Shires Oct. 16 (tickets); her new album, Nobody’s Girl, comes out Sept. 26. Jazz pianist Eugene Uman is there Nov. 4 with his Acoustic Convergence Quartet (tickets).
The Iron Horse presents former LuxDeluxe member Gabe Bernini Oct. 11 with the Classicals (tickets) and Willie Nile Nov. 22 (tickets). Speaking of LuxDeluxe, the Northampton band returns to the Iron Horse Nov. 28 (tickets); their show there last year was a blast, and their most recent album is great (Freak Scene #42). Kimaya Diggs reprises her holiday show Dec. 19 (tickets).
Here’s a classic: Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass play March 26 at College Street Music Hall in New Haven (tickets).
The Space Ballroom in Hamden hosts the Besnard Lakes Dec. 6 (tickets).
That’s a wrap for now, but Freak Scene is always seeking 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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