Speedy Ortiz – Twerp Verse
Twerp Verse is a polished, sonically inventive record that’s both playful and punchy, but its purpose feels unclear
Speedy Ortiz are framing their third album as a do-over. The band were set to record an LP in 2016, but unexpected political turmoil demanded a full rewrite; guitarist, vocalist and spokesperson Sadie Dupuis explained that they swapped “strictly personal” songs for the power of “social politics and protest.” On Twerp Verse this redirect results in guiltily first-person politics dressed up in last year's headlines.
Tracks like Lucky 88 and Backslidin’ capture Speedy Ortiz at their best: kooky, thoughtful rock with cartoon trills and tumbling, thorny guitar riffs. Dupuis’ lyrics are slick, smart and entertaining, but they rarely shake with the urgency you’d expect from an album rewritten for the zeitgeist. Instead, there’s an (understandable) weariness: Villain details sinister small-talk from a stranger with unsavoury intent; Lean In When I Suffer skewers blind self-obsession manifesting as 'self-care.' You Hate the Title takes on workplace inequality with a sing-song silliness, like a millennial Weezer: 'I can't, I can't with your 'just can't even's / Take away the levels 'til we're even-stevens.'
Twerp Verse is a polished, sonically inventive record that’s both playful and punchy, but its purpose feels unclear. Opener Buck Me Off proclaimed a 'year of the weird,' of booty pics and surreal hellish scenes – that acceptance of uncertainty feels more vital than Speedy Ortiz’ current-event recaps.
Listen to: Lucky 88, Backslidin', Buck Me Off