At Home With Proud Parents caught me a little off guard, right from the start. While the debut showcased a variety of influences, this one is even more toned back and chill, in contrast to some members’ other work with The Hussy. The opening track on this sophomore album, “Cellophane” is more of a folk-punk or cowpunk vibe with some warbled vocals, an acoustic guitar and minimal percussion.
While the whole of this 11-song record doesn’t maintain that exact approach, it does set the tone for jangly, off kilter indie-pop. The sound is driven by melodies, dynamic shifts, and well-placed tempo-changes. It’s poppy at heart, but delivered with that “kid in the corner” outsider tone. All three members sing: Tyler Fassnacht, C Nelson-Lifson, and Heather Sawyer. Sometimes they alternate verses, sometimes whole songs, and sometimes they harmonize. While each singer has “their songs,” it all connects well and sounds cohesive rather than disjointed.
Unsurprisingly the themes on the record often explore that outsider perspective, intensified by a year of isolation. Many songs bluntly address feeling alone, trapped and isolated, while others reflect on the behavior of others. I have a few theories about the deeper meaning behind a couple tracks but I’ll spare everyone from my speculation.
While you may expect more garage rock references based on Sawyer’s work in The Hussy, I hear more ‘00s indie rock influence, the kind that focused on minimalism and weirdness instead of the grandiose art-pop it later developed into. “It’s Not Enough” is a good starting point. It’s a little more mellow than the rest of the record, with a feel somewhere between Nirvana ballads and early Modest Mouse. It’s somber and quirky while simultaneously feeling raw, alive and pissed off without actually breaking out of the mold.
“Baby Boy” is a peppy song with a bass hook that makes the hips wiggle, “All I Can Do” really takes off at that “woo woo” that I feel like Sawyer could trademark, “Left Behind” is maybe the best example of the three styles all coming together, and “Falls Apart” is just a traditional alt-rock songs with a danceable groove, lyrics about self-reflection and doubt, and power-pop sunshine with nods to the 1960s. At other times it gets more twangy. “Badnight Loving” is one of the better songs in this style, while “Livin’ A Dream” goes full-on folksy with the apostrophe in the name and a harmonica. While I cited indie rock repeatedly so far, this is the DIY indie-type that’s more working class and to the point, which is more or less the subject matter of “Nirvana Tattoo.”
Those of you who are listening along as you read (hey, it could happen) have probably already picked up on my preference for Sawyer’s raw emotion versus the others’ more winking style. But they all merge nicely, complementing their strengths while offering surprising twists and turns. It sounds like an actual band instead of somebody’s vanity bedroom project. And I can dig it.
