Dear Beths,
Congratulations on the new release.
I’ve been reflecting on our relationship and, as I’ve recently started to write about music again, have been asked to share my thoughts with you.
First and foremost, I want to say that this isn’t easy for me. I cherish your album Future Me Hates Me from 2018. The title track alone is a powerpop ear worm, laden with relatable lyrics and soaked in cool guitar hooks, that never gets stale. Thanks in large part to Elizabeth Stokes’ unique voice and songwriting, that LP is still on regular rotation at my house from start to finish.
However, I’ve come to realize that it’s not you; it’s me. Unlike a fine wine and contrary to what the Rolling Stones might have me believe, I don’t often find that bands get better with age. I am a middle aged punk, more open minded than I was as an angry teenager, but probably less so than when I was in my freewheelin’ 20s and 30s. I’ve come to know what I like and over the years, through subsequent releases I’ve recognized that we’ve been growing apart.
2022’s Expert In A Dying Field is great too. I don’t find myself listening to it as much as FMHM but maybe that’s just a case of nostalgia for our honeymoon or bonding phase? It also gave me the opportunity to see you live a couple times while on tour away from your New Zealand home. It definitely felt like a band and not like a solo project, with all four members contributing to tight and energetic performances that showcased the guitar rock that made me fall for you in the first place. But change can be a good thing, and while I think it’s great that you have signed to Epitaph subsidiary ANTI-, it has maybe lead us down different paths.
I can totally relate to feeling like a broken machine sometimes and think we both deserve the chance to find music that makes us happy. Your latest release Straight Line Was A Lie, like your previous two albums, has a banger title track, but unfortunately has nothing as fast and aggressive as “Uptown Girl”. I wanted to love the jangly single “Metal” but wish it sounded less adult alternative and more Flying Nun. I’m sure fans of mellower, more introspective songs will love it.
Ironically, in writing this I discovered 2021’s Demos, your acoustic versions, cassette-only release from Carpark Records, which I may have slept on but was maybe only available in Australia. I’m not so secretly hoping that this was all pressure from a label executive to make the new record more commercially viable because if that is the case maybe that might mean there’s more rockin’ demo versions of all these songs somewhere that I will someday get to hear and love.
I genuinely wish you success as you move forward. I’m sure for every jaded old punk fan you lose you’ll make 10 new fans of Neko Case and Waxahatchee. Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of Neko’s but almost exclusively of her 2002 album Blacklisted. I’m pretty sure Waxahatchee is great too, but I’m more into her twin sister’s grungier punk band Swearin. Thank you for the memories of a couple stellar live performances and one near perfect album. I can’t realistically ask for anything more than that.
We will always have “You Wouldn’t Like Me”. Take care of yourself.
Sincerely,
Jiffy Marx
