Forth Wanderers
Forth Wanderers employ a tin-can-telephone style of composition
which they use even when living in the same area code. Since first
collaborating in 2013 as Montclair, New Jersey high schoolers, guitarist and
songwriter Ben Guterl and vocalist Ava Trilling have passed songs back and
forth like pen pals. Guterl will devise an instrumental skeleton before sending
it to vocalist Ava Trilling who pens the lyrics based off the melody. The duo
then gather alongside guitarist Duke Greene, bassist Noah Schifrin, and drummer
Zach Lorelli to expand upon the demo. It’s a patient and practiced writing
system that has carried the quintet through two EPs (2013’s Mahogany and
2016’s Slop) and one LP (2014’s Tough Love). Forth Wanderers,
the group’s sophomore record and Sub Pop debut, is the group’s most
comprehensive and assured statement yet.
Now living in Ohio and New York respectively, Guterl and
Trilling have evolved their separate but collaborative writing process. “The
only way I can really write is by myself in my room with a notebook, listening
to the song over and over again,” Trilling says. “I’ve never sat down to write
a story, I write the song as it unfolds.” Since her lyrics are often embedded
with intimate truths from her life, the private writing experience often leads
to intense self-reflection.
On Forth Wanderers these introspections include
meditations on relationships, discovery, and finding oneself adrift. Despite
the inherent heaviness of those themes, Forth Wanderers feels joyous, a
rock record bursting with heart. Take “Not for Me,” a romping track about “the
ambivalence of love.” Trilling’s confession of “I can’t feel the earth beneath
my feet/Flowers bloom but not for me” resists feeling like a dreary, pitying
complaint; instead, as her bandmates bolster her melancholy with interlocking
harmonic intricacies, she soars with self-actualization. Opener “Nevermine,” is
a surge of confidence inspired by an ex-lover who is still captivated by her
image. “I don’t think I know who you are anymore/And I think I knew who I was
before,” she jabs with relish. On “Ages Ago” Trilling paints the image of a
constantly-shifting enigmatic lover. “I wasn’t sure who they were, they changed
constantly (hence the metaphor describing the “grey coat” and cutting their
hair just to “stay afloat”),” she says. “I wasn’t going to wait any longer to
find out.”
Recorded over five
days by friend and audio engineer Cameron Konner at his Philadelphia home
studio, Forth Wanderers amplifies the heartfelt sentiments of their
earlier works into massive anthems. Guterl and Greene’s guitars have never
sounded sharper, Schifrin and Lorelli’s terse rhythm section is restless, and
Trilling sounds more self-assured than ever. These are exuberant, profound
songs driven by tightly bound melodies and a loving attention to detail.
