March 14, 2024
The US band also celebrates their sophisticated sound live © APA/Wax Nine Records/Shervin Lainez
Packing in as many ideas as possible in a short amount of time: That’s probably the best way to describe the sound of the US rock band Speedy Ortiz. And yet the complexly constructed songs of the group around singer and guitarist Sadie Dupuis lack anything in terms of catchiness, as their show on Wednesday evening at Flucc in Vienna proved. It was only her second trip to Austria in ten years, and the wait was more than worth it.
A lot has happened during this time: Not only are there new band members, three studio records by Speedy Ortiz – named after a comic book character – have also been released since then. The reason for the current European trip is “Rabbit Rabbit” from last year, which not only pays homage to old music heroes (while at the same time taking a critical look at them), but also deals with some painful childhood memories. She underlined in the APA interview that she thought a lot about this time during Corona.
What is also immediately noticeable is the band’s socio-political streak, as demonstrated not only by the energetic song “Scabs”. “We all have a certain DIY and punk background, which certainly plays a role,” said bassist Audrey Zee Whitesides when asked about her commitment to workers’ rights in her native Philadelphia. “There’s just this ethos of helping people and bringing them together. If you want to be creative, you should be able to do that too. We don’t just want to empower people in art, but of course in all aspects of their lives.”
In any case, Dupuis has the impression that the indie scene in particular has become more political again. “For example, when it comes to the South by Southwest showcase festival: more and more bands don’t want to perform there because of their connections to the US military. That was not always so. A few years ago the CIA sponsored a stage and no one raised an eyebrow. Nowadays, solidarity among musicians has become stronger.” After all, one has to be able to afford to forego such performances.
With their likeable understatement and very powerful performance, Speedy Ortiz is definitely well suited as a role model. At Flucc they left little to be desired, plowing through a dense set of classics like the rousing “Plow” and newer songs. The guitar lines of Dupuis and her colleague Andy Molholt circled around each other again and again, strange sprinkles and wild riffs broke the flow, only to tire out into a big chorus in the next moment, driven by Whitesides and drummer Joey Doubek. These songs have so many barbs that you can never feel safe.
The newer pieces in particular revealed a very rough touch, which not without reason brought to mind vast landscapes. After all, “Rabbit Rabbit” was partly recorded in David Catching’s desert studio Rancho de la Luna, where Mark Lanegan also recorded albums and where the desert sessions from the Queens of the Stone Age environment took place. The place simply has character. “The studios are like Scandinavian coffee shops,” said Doubek. “They are available all over the world, they are clean and functional everywhere. This ranch had great things too, but ultimately it was just a house. We left the windows open, the wind came in – you immediately feel like you’ve arrived.”
The European tour is slowly coming to an end for Speedy Ortiz, with five gigs still on the schedule. In addition to the concerts, the surrounding things will of course also have an impact: long walks, visits to museums or, for example, a ride on the Ferris wheel in Vienna. “These memories are of course inspiring and stay with you. “But it doesn’t work straight away,” said Molholt. “It’s like a plant that constantly gets light: if you take away that light, it suddenly grows faster. That’s how it is with this too. We need time to be able to reflect and process everything.” Let’s hope that the next visit to Austria doesn’t take another ten years to arrive.
(By Christoph Griessner/APA)
2024-03-15 02:12:19
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