Heartless Bastards
Erika Wennerstrom is the indie scene's answer to Bonnie Raitt and Sheryl Crow. Her blues vocals front her band, Heartless Bastards, with that same timeless quality especially indicative of Raitt: It doesn't suggest a particular historical moment and obfuscates the age of the singer, certainly. It fits the mood, always.
As a female singer in the current market, I imagine it has been difficult for Wennerstrom not to trade on her gender, pouting up a sweetness as in She & Him, depending on sex appeal such as Ke$ha, or unraveling her gendered markers altogether in a way that brands acts like Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. My apologies for all of the name-dropping, but Wennerstrom--supported by Dave Colvin, Jesse Ebaugh, and Mark Nathan--doesn't seem invested in crafting anything other than a fat rock sound. And with the preponderance of "indie" and "alternative" acts, rock is a terrain left relatively untended.
Those who are invested in the development of the rock genre are, however, not to be trifled with--and the Heartless Bastards are often lumped in among them. Their first studio albums were produced by Fat Possum Records, the same label as fellow Ohioans The Black Keys, to whom they are often compared. Rolling Stone is fond of linking the band with Spoon and the White Stripes as well as some of the top rock acts of the past decade.
Despite hailing from Ohio, the rambling pace of their tunes suggest the Great Wide West--songs that don't even attempt to hover around the industry benchmark of two to three-and-a-half minutes. I first heard them at Lollapalooza in 2009. And their second of four studio albums, All This Time (2006), was the soundtrack to the rest of that year. This year at Lollapalooza, there are no major garage, blues, or professedly rock acts, so Heartless Bastards seem to be tasked in filling a large gap mid-festival in late Saturday afternoon leading up to two experimental hip-hop/rap groups. A tall order indeed.
The Bastards most recent release is last year's Arrow (2012), which attempts to capitalize on their western prairie aesthetic. And it is lovely, if a bit over-produced--but that's the trend these days. For this album I recommend "Skin and Bone" and "Parted Ways."
However, it is 2006's All This Time to which I continually return as a touchstone of their particular sound. If you are new to the band, start with "All This Time" and then "Searching for Ghosts." In the first, the driving warm guitar lines are fat and catchy as Wennerstrom lopes through a melodic lines. Her enunciation of "I love you so much baby" is snark and barely timbered with a blues growl that she never lets get the better of her. "Searching for Ghosts," on the other hand, is plaintive and companionate, strung with close harmonies shared between band mates. The deceptively simple guitar line sucks you in and then suddenly gains a grizzled texture at the bridge. Unlike the blues-rock tradition, these songs don't take heartbreak as a theme, but are rather appeals to hearts full of wanderlust. Nevertheless, they will break your heart.
Prepare for Heartless Bastard's 6pm set on Saturday, August 3rd, at the Grove stage by checking out their music, available from iTunes and streaming on Spotify.
--Elizabeth Tavares
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