Brennan Wedl's new self-titled album showcases songwriting so strong it invites comparisons to Lucinda Williams and Sheryl Crow. The 29-year-old singer-songwriter's radiant, hooky Americana puts her toe-to-toe with genre legends, blending church basement punk roots with a timeless confidence.
A record produced by Waxahatchee
The album was produced by Waxahatchee (Katie Crutchfield) and her longtime producer Brad Cook. Crutchfield, who had never produced before, was captivated after Snail Mail's Lindsey Jordan introduced her to Wedl's music. 'I just couldn't wrap my head around her voice,' Crutchfield said. 'It's immediately iconic, so timeless and confident – for someone who was, at the time, so undiscovered.'
When Crutchfield heard an early version of 'Two Dollar Pistol,' she recognized Wedl's talent: 'This person's writing huge melodies that can be played in arenas. This is a really different level of songwriting.'
Self-analysis and sobriety
Wedl attributes the fully formed nature of the album to knowing herself better than ever. Combining newly written songs and others from her 20s, 'it's a lot about communicating between various versions of you, time-travel with music; conversations with the unknown, dialogue with large themes like the man, God, Jesus, the trope of 'daddy'.'
She credits various 12-step programs with breaking her people-pleasing patterns. 'When I was drinking, I was really focused on the next time I was gonna do that, who was gonna be there – this mental obsession with the wrong things.' Quitting drinking didn't erase her problems but made them clearer, allowing her to reconnect with songwriting as a form of communication.
From riot grrrl to Catholic roots
Wedl grew up in Missouri with nuns for aunts and discovered riot grrrl at age 12 at the She Rock She Rock summer camp. She found common ground between the church and punk in their impetus to come together 'to build the new era of something.' She played in her first band, Sex Education, and later attended Berklee College of Music, where she co-founded the queercore outfit Dazey and the Scouts.
Her album's rockiest moment, 'Pretty Little Fantasy,' attacks perceptions of her as 'somebody's daughter … prim and proper.' She says, 'I wanted to be so helpful, and I think girls are taught that a lot. But then I was introduced to riot grrrl and Marina Abramović and disgraced women throughout history, and it took most of my 20s to come to the conclusion that I was still carrying the self-imposed life's work of being delightful, and that doesn't help anyone – actually, it really hurts me.'
Impact and future
Wedl's album, released via Anti- on 21 August, has already drawn praise for its ironclad songwriting. Crutchfield notes, 'She can really write a hook. The melodies are amazing. As I got to know her better, [I saw that] her lyric writing is really strong, too. It's all influenced by my favourite stuff: it's Kathleen Edwards, Lucinda Williams, Tom Petty – the people's songwriters.'
