"That is unexpected and wildly disappointing, considering that they are two of the most distinctive songwriters and bandleaders working today, colliding a range of left-of-center influences- Vic Chesnutt, Drive-By Truckers, John Prine-into songs that traffic in skewed imagery and complex ideas. Lenderman can be sly and evasive, favoring second-person pronouns that sound accusatory even after you realize he's usually talking to himself. Hartzman is much more traditionally confessional, almost always writing in first person as she traces complicated scenarios across multiple storylines."
"Both are aces with a turn of phrase that leavens extreme pathos with humor. They open this Blue Room set with 2018's "How Do You Let the Love Into the Heart That Isn't Split Wide Open," and the song is barely even a minute of them singing that long title. It's pretty funny in its matter-of-factness, a meta-commentary on love songs-at least in its original incarnation. In this setting, however, it's over before it even registers as a song, which makes it less of a stakes-defining introduction and more of an awkward throat-clearing."
Two distinctive songwriters and bandleaders combine left-of-center influences into songs filled with skewed imagery and complex ideas. Lenderman often writes sly, evasive second-person lines that read like accusations turned inward. Hartzman tends to write confessional first-person narratives that trace complicated scenarios across multiple storylines. Both use turns of phrase that mix deep pathos with humor. The Blue Room set opens with a minute-long rendition of a long-titled song, functioning as an awkward throat-clearing. The short record-length set pulls from darker catalog corners, EPs, a solo album, and non-album singles. The duo ended a six-year romantic relationship six months earlier, breaking up in a bar in Kyoto.
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