Album Review: Total Disarray by Quaker Wedding (by Marcus Pond)

Total Disarray is the sophomore LP from Quaker Wedding, a three-piece outfit from New York City. If you scroll back in the CPRW archives far enough, you’ll see that I ranked their debut record, In Transit, as my 3rd favorite album of 2020, so when Marco (who runs Salinas Records and is the frontman for Quaker Wedding) sent me the link to the new songs, I was beyond stoked to check them out. Of course, even though I totally meant to write it up ahead of time, I waited until the vinyl came in the mail, because spinning it in my living room is always a better experience than with my headphones on a laptop.

Although Quaker Wedding released “Russian Hill” as a 7” single last year (by the way “Running List”, also made the tracklist), “Vintage Dress” is the song that was given the music video treatment and leads off the record. It sets the lyrical tone for the album, with palm muted verses leading to a crashing chorus about a dissolved relationship. Looking at the lyric sheet, it reads like a diary, and lines like “when you left it / you left me to be the one / to throw your dress out in the trash” had me speechless when I first heard them.

Like their debut, the album art on Total Disarray hints at the band’s relationship with location (faded photos of mostly desolate cityscapes with images of maps around the edges), and they hash out that relationship out in songs like “Woodbridge” and “A New York Minute”. The former is a burst of anger-fueled energy about all the things you hate about where you live driving you crazy, while the latter is a bittersweet number about knowing “how it feels to be a ghost / to haunt the place I love / without the people I miss most”.

The sequencing on Total Disarray is perfect, as they hit the listener with the best three-song leadoff I’ve heard from any album this year (I know it’s early, I’m just setting the bar here), and after slowing it down with tracks like the wistful “Staten Island Ferry” and the darker, moody “In And Of Itself”, they close with the one-two punch of the aforementioned “Russian Hill” and “Hurricane”.

The comparisons I’ve seen online to Jawbreaker are apt, as “Russian Hill” sounds like a bop that could’ve been from the 24 Hour Revenge Therapy sessions and is one of the brighter tunes on Total Disarray. Conversely, “In And Of Itself” has a (at least to my ears) Dear You kind of vibe. More than anything, both bands play heavy punk songs with impeccable lyrics, and if that’s what you’re into, Quaker Wedding has 10 fresh tracks that you should really dig.

Songs to check out: “Vintage Dress”, “Woodbridge”, “Running List”, “Russian Hill”.

Stream and download Total Disarray on Bandcamp.

This review was written by Marcus Pond.

Album Review: In Transit by Quaker Wedding (by Marcus Pond)

I came across Quaker Wedding while scrolling through Bandcamp obsessively, as I am wont to do. Their debut 7” had the single “Jilted Lover” and a b-side called “Where You Used To Live”, and right from the get-go, I was hooked. Since quarantine/lockdown/social distancing/shelter in place/whatever you want to call it, my time spent in my car has been cut drastically, but I found that those two songs were just long enough to get me to the “far” end of my small town, and after getting back in my car, I’d play those two songs again.

Since COVID-19 was delaying shipping, I was stoked when Marco from Salinas Records emailed me in May to say that the 7” it was finally being sent. When I told him how obsessed I had been with the songs (and that I was looking forward to reviewing the full length for CPRW), he was kind enough to send me an advanced download, and it did not disappoint. Since the record “officially” dropped on June 19th (just in time for another great bandcamp Friday, where they sent their shares of sales to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund), it’s now available to all to enjoy.

In Transit starts off with “Sinking Ship”, and after the sound of what might be a subway or train hissing to a stop and a few distorted power chords, the listener is treated to a gravelly howl that makes me think of Trever Keith (of Face To Face) at the end of a long tour. In both the opener and the second track, “Dark Thoughts II”, Quaker Wedding addresses themes of not being “built for this life” and wonders if they’ll “ever call this place my home”. While “Sinking Ship” rages with anger, “Dark Thoughts II” is a bit more introspective and… eh, not hopeful, but at least willing to deal with life’s problems.

The third track is the lead single, the aforementioned “Jilted Lover”, which after many, many repeat listens, is still my favorite on the album. I get a real Jawbreaker vibe from the lyrics, which are equal parts self-loathing and remorseful. The first verse shows our protagonist literally counting the days that he was with his ex (and finding out that it was half his life), and then adding “I did the math / On little scraps of paper / It seemed important / So I checked it twice.” The chorus explains his dilemma: “I act like a jilted lover / Even though I’m the one who left / I go on and on about you anytime / Anytime somebody says your name.”

While a tight ten songs that clock in at 33 minutes, In Transit touches many of the hallmarks of Midwest-punk (even mentioning in “Aching” that “I’ve become a Midwest lyric”), from the slowish punk/emo-burners “Wrecking Ball” and “Vermont”, to the more fast paced “Sleep” and “Knowing Smile” that remind me a little of Nothington.

Quaker Wedding end with the somber “On An Island”, which *checks calculator* accounts for a fifth of the runtime on the album. After starting out their record with wondering where they belong, they end by saying “We work our whole lives trying to forget / We spend our whole lives living in transit”. And isn’t that really it? There is no “happily ever after” here, the days keep coming, and some of them are rad, and some of them suck. But we keep moving – sometimes because we’re motivated to do so, and other times because, well, what other choice do we have?

All in all (and I don’t want to hype it up too much), this is my favorite record of the year so far, and it’s not particularly close. From the first listen, it just fit my ears like a glove (if you wore gloves on your ears), and I can’t wait for the vinyl to arrive so I can wear it out.

RIYL: Jawbreaker, Face To Face, Nothington, Big Nothing, Distants, feeling miserable and/or awesome.

Stream and download In Transit on Bandcamp here.

This review was written by Marcus Pond.