There’s nothing wrong with incorporating a little indulgence into your sound when you’ve got as melodic a disposition as The Little Wretches do, and in tracks like “Heaven Was Open,” this group makes a case against the stripped-down sound of their peers that doesn’t need much to appeal to the masses. The Little Wretches make sprawling harmonies out of the simplest of works in Red Beets & Horseradish, their latest album, and with tracks like “It’s Raining” and “Lovingkindness,” they reject any notion of conservative songcraft in favor of something much bolder than the status quo calls for.
“Palms & Crosses” and “Nothing Was Given To Me” couldn’t be much more different on the surface, but their joint usage of raw Americana makes them the perfect tracklist neighbors in my opinion. There’s only a hint of cohesion between a lot of these songs, but I don’t get the impression that The Little Wretches were trying to establish a progressive identity with this release. There’s too much that they want to do with these narratives, too great a set of stories to focus on one over another, and it’s yet another area where they do fine setting themselves apart from others in their peer group.
“Old Lillian’s Story,” “Old Hundredth,” and “Duquesne” have a stock country swing that could have been a little more inviting were it given a jazzier kick from the percussion, but this is where The Little Wretches refuse virtuosity in their artistry. It’s one thing to be rebels, but they’re not trying to show off a lot of technical skill in these songs, nor in works like “Rise / Swanage,” which uses a very unremarkable template as a launchpad for what I would call the most vibrant hook in the entire album.
I do think “Winter’s Grace” and “It’s All Between Me & God” show off some experimental musicianship that could serve this band better in the future, and until I have the chance to see them live, they give me a good preview of what their improvisational wits might be able to produce. There’s a freewheeling vibe to this material that begs for us to give the music a few more listens, if for no other reason than to discern the Dylanisms from the outright hipster commentary, but at no point does Red Beets & Horseradish sound in love with its own conceptualism, as I’ve found in a lot of other folk-rock LPs over these past few months of following the contemporary underground.
Be it the alternative rock of “Walked Along” or the playfulness of “Tiger Pajamas,” there’s something for most left-field singer/songwriter buffs to enjoy in Red Beets & Horseradish this season, and I can understand the buzz surrounding its release. The Little Wretches, led by Robert A. Wagner, have a good formula for making bittersweet songs that much more effective for the audience, and with tracks like “Palms & Crosses” and “It’s All Between Me & God,” they’re showing us that their depth is quite limitless at this juncture of their career together.
Chadwick Easton