No Expectations 081: Lucky Number

Why you should listen to Closebye, Lindsay Reamer, and Wishy.

Aug 22, 2024

blue and white light illustration — Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash

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Headline song: Closebye, “Lucky Number”

Thanks for being here. The DNC is happening in Chicago so it’s been a busy week at my day job at WTTW News. My colleagues have been doggedly covering it on the ground while I’ve been compiling their great work in the newsletter we just launched Daily Chicagoan.

Though this is a shorter No Expectations this week, it’s still full of three albums that instantly catapulted to be among my favorites of the year. Next time, I’ll make up the difference with the return of Discography Deep Dive. It will be a long one (and a fun one).

While the subscription sale ended last week, you can still sign up for the paid tier or tell a friend if you dig what you read. Every bit means the world.

Don’t Miss These Great New Albums

Closebye, Hammer of My Own

New York City’s Closebye have a sophomore record that’s so refreshing, fun, and quietly inventive that it’ll break you out of any musical rut you might be in. Normally, I wait until albums are out to feature them in this newsletter but Hammer of My Own, officially released tomorrow, is the best thing I’ve heard in weeks. Each song is excellent in drastically different ways, from the surging rock of “Power Trip,” to the understated folk rock “What’s In It For You,” and the 2000s radio-pop of the title track. While the bones of each tune are undeniably strong, it’s the playfulness in the arrangements and the surprising instrumental flourishes that give the LP its magic. When you think the opener “Lucky Number” will be menacing thanks to its screaming intro, it morphs into a breezy soft rock. As the silky pop of “Pilates” settles into a total earworm, it becomes eerie and knotty. This is already a lock for my Top 5 of the year.

Also, Closebye’s bassist Margaux Bouchegnies has one of 2024’s best albums as Margaux with Inside the Marble.

Lindsay Reamer, Natural Science

Natural Science, the debut LP from Philadelphia’s Lindsay Reamer, was inspired by her time as a field scientist gathering visitation data for National Parks. Though she lived a transient life, driving from town to town, the resulting album feels strikingly lived in and at home. Across ten songs (including a fitting Townes Van Zandt cover), Reamer draws from a rich well of folk, Americana, and timeless pop. Tracks like “Figs and Peaches” and “Mushroom House” will seep into your brain and never overstay their welcome. This is confident songwriting at its most free and comfortable. While she’s gotten understandable comparisons to Waxahatchee and Sheryl Crow, Reamer’s carved out a singular lane.

Wishy, Triple Seven

I’ve been a fan of every project Indiana-based songwriter Kevin Krauter has been a part of, from the breezy pop of his solo tunes, the propulsive indie rock of Hoops, and the energetic hardcore of Matrix, it’s all stellar stuff. Wishy, the band fronted by Krauter and Nina Pitchkites, come up with such infectious melodies on their debut LP Triple Seven, it’s stunning. They embellish these stellar tunes with shoegaze and nostalgic ‘90s and ‘00s radio pop. It’s a potent blend of salty and sweet that leaps into surprising places with the turbocharged, almost nu-metal closer “Spit.” The whole thing rocks and I’ve been lucky enough to catch them live twice this summer: opening for Rui Gabriel at GMan and at Logan Square Arts Fest.

What I listened to:

The No Expectations 081 Playlist: Spotify // Apple Music

1. Closebye, “Lucky Number”
2. Lunar Vacation, “Tom”
3. Christopher Owens, “No Good”
4. Wishy, “Spit”
5. TOPS, “Sunday Morning”
6. Fievel Is Glauque, “As Above, So Below”
7. Anna Butterss, “Shorn”
8. L.T. Creacher, “Bummer Proof”
9. Twye, “Hollow”
10. Tasha, “So Much More”
11. Lindsay Reamer, “Figs and Peaches”
12. The Clearwater Swimmers, “Firewood”
13. Trace Mountains, “Friend”
14. Merce Lemon, “Watch Me Drive Them Dogs Wild”
15. Dave Harrington, “Acid Western”

What I watched:

Industry

I’m in a rut with movies right now. Whenever I open up Letterboxd to scroll through my watchlist, there’s so much there that I don’t know where to start. So, inevitably, I watch some prestige HBO show. With House of the Dragon wrapped up, I queued up Industry. I’ve been told it’s some mix of Euphoria, a show I’ve seen, and Succession, a show I haven’t. I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s fun and I’m already caught up. The series follows a bunch of aspiring investment bankers who all suck, make a ton of money, and have zero emotional intelligence. It’s a perfect recipe for stressful but exciting television, especially when you add sharp and occasionally hilarious writing with the escapism of a London setting. My joke that my girlfriend is tired of hearing is me saying, “This is just like music journalism” whenever the protagonists talk about some multi-billion dollar investment deal.

What I read:

When Country Music Comes to the DNC (Don’t Rock The Inbox)

This feels like a new level of understanding from the DNC that liberals aren’t just listening to streaming pop hits (and these days, you’ll find country there too!), and that southern folks, Appalachian folks and small town people who listen to country and roots music often believe in things like basic human rights for all people and other things we consider to be democratic principles. The author Sarah Smarsh has done some great writing digging into to this in the context of selecting Governor Tim Walz as Harris’ VP running mate: “That people in small towns are often hopeful, cooperative folks who find creative solutions to local problems and are ruled by a sense of responsibility to community rather than by a fear of those outside it,” she writes in the New York Times. “In conveying the dignity and reality of what is casually derided on the coasts as ‘flyover country,’ Mr. Walz speaks plainly yet eloquently in the parlance of my place and thereby fills a decades-long geographic messaging gap for Democrats.”

Off the Grid, Extremely Online (New York Times)

Mr. Petroski, 39, is a prominent video creator in the modern-day homesteading movement, determined to live a life of semi-self-sufficiency “off grid,” or disconnected from the power, water, gas and telecommunications lines that connect most residential addresses in the United States. But rather than embracing the reclusive life often associated with off-grid homesteaders in rural areas, Mr. Petroski is extremely prolific online, broadcasting his daily life to millions of followers on social media.

The Weekly Chicago Show Calendar

Three months ago, I was hired to help launch a newsletter for WTTW News and one of the things they asked me to do was to add selected concert listings to it. Now that the Daily Chicagoan is up and running, the No Expectations Weekly Chicago Show Calendar will live there. I’ll link it out each week here. I appreciate your understanding.