Based in California’s Inland Empire, Grave Saddles draw on fuzzy shoegaze, hook-laden indie rock and literate alt-country, resulting in a style as warm and wistful as it is catchy and fun. It’s a combination, dubbed “Countrygaze”, that has seen an explosion in popularity thanks in part to the success of Wednesday and MJ Lenderman, what label Really Rad Records describe as “the new generation of DIY bands with their cowboy boots planted firmly on their massive pedalboards.”
Over the last four years, Grave Saddles have released a steady stream of singles, before the three-song EP 2022 Tour Tape which comprised of two originals and a killer Mountain Goats cover. Three must be the Grave Saddles lucky number, because last month the band returned with a follow up EP There You Ain’t, three more tracks that cement their place in the post-country, post-shoegaze, post-everything landscape.
The EP opens with ‘Edible Arrangements’, a twangy punk song that’s all stormy guitar and galloping drums. But wrapped up in the noisy fun is a surprisingly laid-back tale of a porch-side evening and the joy of receiving gifts. “Thank you for the fruit,” goes the oddly cathartic chorus, “I know just what to do with it.” ‘Pony Up’ is the EP’s most “country” song, repurposing the classic diary-style telling of an uncertain relationship to capture a bond with a mercurial neighbourhood cat. Lyrically humorous, but still rather touching, the vocals stretch to a lethargic drawl, the atmosphere thick and warm and syrupy as a stifling summer night.
Salmon from Alaska, Crown Prince kipper from the can
If you’d be my housecat, well I’d be your fisherman
But tonight your bed is empty, and I am acting like a clown
So how much must I pony up to make you settle down?
Closer ‘Willie Nelson Golfing Dream #3’ is something of a triumphant finale, a three-minute distillation of what makes Grave Saddles so great. On paper it’s a simple formula, verse building into catchy chorus with a lick of guitar, followed by a repeat of the same verse, the same chorus. But there’s something irrepressible about it, noisy fuzzy indie rock with its sleeves rolled up and dust in its hair, the sparse lyrics detailing the bittersweet sensation of fawning over a crush.
I’ve got mixed feelings about you
Making things this fun
Cos all the times without you now drag
On and on and on
There You Ain’t is out now via Really Rad Records. Get it from the Grave Saddles Bandcamp page.
