Wednesday with Draag

A Wednesday song is a quilt. A short story collection, a half-memory, a patchwork of portraits of the American south, disparate moments that somehow make sense as a whole. Karly Hartzman, the songwriter/vocalist/guitarist at the helm of the project, is a story collector as much as she is a storyteller: a scholar of people and one-liners. Rat Saw God, the Asheville quintet's new and best record, is ekphrastic but autobiographical and above all, deeply empathetic. Across the album's ten tracks Hartzman, guitarist MJ Lenderman, bassist Margo Shultz, drummer Alan Miller, and lap/pedal steel player Xandy Chelmis build a shrine to minutiae. Half-funny, half-tragic dispatches from North Carolina unfurling somewhere between the wailing skuzz of Nineties shoegaze and classic country twang, that distorted lap steel and Hartzman's voice slicing through the din.

www.wednesday.band

Draag inhabits the space between bliss and pain, interweaving shoegaze, electro-industrial, and punk elements within a pop ballad. Originating in Sylmar, a forgotten neighborhood in Los Angeles, Draag began when Adrian Acosta (songwriter, vocalist, guitarist) revived songs he recorded on his karaoke tape deck when he was 10 years old. After years of refining their sound, five-piece Draag gained a reputation for their sonically immersive live shows in LA, largely by word of mouth, known for transforming any range of DIY to high production stage into a wall of sound described as a storm in slow motion.

www.draagband.com

For full listings visit www.rickshawtheatre.com

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Rickshaw Theatre, 254 E. Hastings Street, Vancouver, Canada