Wussy
Wussy
Shake It Records 1262
2009 / 2017

In case you missed the CD release back in 2009, Cincinnati’s Shake It Records has issued Wussy’s third album on vinyl. And I’m so happy they did.

“…Bitter memories will lessen as you live,
‘Bygones are bygones,’ she says as she forgives,
But I can tell,
this will not end well.”

The above verse is from the track, “This Will Not End Well,” an example of the irony, the cynicism and the reality of relationships. It is artistically written as modern poetry, and skillfully conveys imagery of memories, twisted into an alternate but honest view of reality. Vocalists Chuck Cleaver (formerly of the Ass Ponies) and Linda Walker sing with a sense of vulnerability, creating  personal, but relatable, vignettes. The lyrics provoke smirks as well as awe. Though not necessarily a break-up album, it can be described as bleak romanticism.

Cleaver sings,
“I remember puking down the side of the car
The cost of drinking liquor from the mouth of a jar
Leaning on the fender and declaring that we’d name a star
Tramping through the brambles til our pants were all torn
Searching for a paper bag of mildewy porn
Reflecting on the never-ending question – why had we been born?
Happiness bleeds all over you and me”

Walker joins him in a chorus of “La-la-la-las” over a tough fuzzy guitar and ending the stanza with “Baby I love you, ” making it sound like an empty phrase, which matches a coming-of-age story that really becomes pointless as time goes by.

But not all memories disintegrate. Even if the relationship fades, they can still capture the romanticism without the cynicism, as in this verse from “Muscle Cars;”

On the other side of town
You’re sleeping through the fire alarms
I could watch this city drown
From your everlasting arms
We could row against the undertow
There’s nothing here to see
Til you talk talk talk talk to me
It’s okay pull me under all the way

The songwriting is brilliant against their phrasing and the musicianship. It’s a damn near perfect album.
Grade: A