Major Arcana
Recorded and mixed by Justin Pizzoferrato at Sonelab, Easthampton, MA Mastered by Carl Saff, Chicago, IL Artwork by Sadie Dupuis July Was Hot Music (c) 2013 Carpark Records CAK97 Get IRL 12", cassette or CD here: store.carparkrecords.com/products/514163-cak97-speedy-ortiz-major-arcana
On their proper debut, Speedy Ortiz join a small club of young indie rock bands writing lyrics that are actually worth poring over, but the charms here extend beyond frontwoman Sadie Dupuis' clever and biting wordplay. The 1990s-indebted guitar crunch and quaking rhythms are a perfect match for her dark wit.
Major Arcana, the first full-length from Massachusetts indie-rock outfit Speedy Ortiz, proudly bears its influences—the clean guitars of Liz Phair, the dirty ones of Sonic Youth and Pavement—but dwelling on those touchstones distracts from the record’s fervent drive to unsettle and have fun in novel ways.
Sounding like they were forged in the early to mid-'90s -- when Throwing Muses and Sleater-Kinney were all the rage -- Speedy Ortiz's 2013 debut album, Major Arcana, finds the four-piece influenced by the raw, slanted guitar-driven indie rock of the '90s. Turning back time to two decades prior is an ongoing trend of 2013, and in a lot of ways, Speedy Ortiz resemble Best Coast's grungier, more alternative cousin from up in the Northwest (actually, the members hail from Northampton, Massachusetts). With nimble, fractured musicianship steered by twisting guitar parts and Sadie Dupuis' sweet, gutsy voice, the group has drawn many comparisons to Pavement, who Dupuis admits plays a big influence on the band, not just in the song structures, but in the witty, conversational lyrical style of the album.