By It’s our Bandcamp Picks of the Week, featuring fanclubwallet’s miraculously colorful pop album LIVING WHILE DYING, out now via Lauren Records, and a great stand-alone single from Telemarket entitled “Didn’t ask what’s on my mind,” where proceeds go to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund!
fanclubwallet – LIVING WHILE DYING
Genre: Indie Pop, Indietronica
Favorite Tracks: “Know You Anymore,” “Head On,” “Do Over,” “New Distraction,” “Guts,” “Me Time”
For an album titled LIVING WHILE DYING, fanclubwallet sure sketches it into the open. To live life means being stuck in different emotional states: You just want to feel joyous, but can’t exactly ignore the listlessness and the sadness of certain moments. Hannah Judge knows how it feels to be in that space, trying to engage in optimism while also stepping into pessimism.
Across the record she tries to live life and connect with people despite doses of confusion and awkwardness. On “Know You Anymore,” she reflects on her behavior and friends that she’s ashamed of interacting with, wondering if she receives attention only by masking her emotions with a funny outlook. This heavily contrasts with the sunny “Head On,” with lines like, “To get my head on / It’s been life long / I know it’s not right / But It takes some time.” She’s trying to put her life in a better spot, even if it takes time to get there.
That emotional divide is present in the production and composition as well, balancing tones that are grayscale and colorful. The result is a saturated, yet muted, palette; vocals that are deadpan, but expressive. It’s never a clash, but presents contrasting values that work well with each other. “Do Over” sounds both lilting and ghostly across gentle grooves and echoing effects, amplifying the thought of starting things from scratch. Judge’s vocals get resoundingly expressive on the shuffling indie rock of “New Distraction,” reflecting this need to wait for something refreshing that can change her life entirely.
The last two tracks uncover the album’s emotional throughline at its most difficult. The synthpop-driven “Guts” is swallowed in rumbling drums and dark atmosphere, Judge wallowing in that space. “There is a part of me beyond repair / I want to keep it there,” she solemnly responds, like she can’t help but feel like she can’t get out of the spiraling headspace she’s going through.
All that changes on “Me Time.” It’s a flip from the last track, picking up the mantle of a brighter instrumental rollick and vocal melodies as Judge runs through existential frustrations and then focuses on her “me time,” expressing a curiosity towards happiness (“I wanna be a happy person”). She might follow that up with “But when I try to do it / I’m not sure if it’s worth it,” but it is the essence of trying that makes it worthwhile. Small joys still mean the world, after all.
There’s an overall emotive richness that’s showcased over the course of fanclubwallet’s sophomore output: full of ups and downs, feelings that are reflected in the music itself. LIVING WHILE DYING amplifies the whirling stasis of feeling alive but also feeling dead inside, struggling to connect but still trying to feel better. Despite such odds, fanclubwallet’s attempt to be happy is enough, a small step that eventually gets bigger. Listen to this colorful album on Bandcamp. [Louis Pelingen] 
Telemarket – “Didn’t ask what’s on my mind”
Genre: Slacker Rock, Alt-Country
There is nothing more humiliating than when you’re arguing with someone and realize you don’t know what to say next. What’s even worse is when you only know what to say to someone when you’re arguing. On Telemarket’s new-ish one-off, “Didn’t ask what’s on my mind,” Athens, Georgia’s finest slacker rock band winds around a relationship’s slow collapse. The single starts in a comfortable bliss before the days blend together, looping until those intimate moments of care or love slowly fade away. Throughout, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Adam Wayton keeps his words to himself, burying them between cymbals and clarinet. He recollects being told, “I only wanna argue, I never wanna fight,” and admits, “I swear I don’t feel nothing until I feel it all.” There’s a friction between the slow, dreamy sound and the frustration of the lyrics. It’s a collection of nerve-hitting, bittersweet memories turned to song and the perfect soundtrack to watching yourself get forgotten while you’re sitting right there on the couch. Give it a spin on Bandcamp. [Caroline Alt]
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