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The Little Wretches (Robert Andrew Wagner) Release Acoustic Live LP
July 17, 2021 by Claire Uebelacker
Culture, Music
As we hum along this year and we’re inundated with releases from the past year and some odd months, we’re still seeing a wave of reactionary music for the past pandemic, and the years leading up to it. Division amongst people is incredibly high, and those who seemingly don’t even take a side just find themselves frustrated in the world we’re living in today. Robert Andrew Wagner of Little Wretches is firmly aware of this, and he also knows that despite being a vocal advocate for the arts, and on this live album Live at the Mattress Store that it is ultimately artists who are the ones fighting to make the world better by exposing injustice, he doesn’t have all the answers and we can’t look to any one person or organization for them.
I can see some writing the album off as being a little too “liberal” in its sensibilities and that even though it is a very humanistic experience with only lip service to leaning on any one side, even with the song “All of My Friends”, he sees the division growing and how seemingly no one can voice anything without fear of cancellation, even by mere association. You get the sense in his performance and deliberate wording that Wagner is very tired of walking around eggshells. He argues through his music that every person needs a clear moral code, one built off of human empathy and respect and that we can’t be idle witnesses that almost feel like non-witnesses as heard in the aptly titled “No Witnesses”. It’s not quite on the level of “I’m mad as hell and I’m not taking it anymore”, but it’s certainly close, even if Wagner plays along with more dulcet tones to juxtapose how sharp and hard-hitting his words are.
At times it can be a genuinely uncomfortable listen with how real it gets, and I think those who want more fanciful and escapist style music should look elsewhere, but to even those people, I really implore you to open your mind and give this album a shot. I’ve listened to it three times and each time I need some time to firmly sit in the experiences it bestows, but also just how lengthy it is. Some songs go on for quite some time, and while they never grow tiring, they can definitely be exhausting. Luckily, Wagner knows to front-load his set with the longer tracks which is what makes the latter half which is by virtue a more uplifting second act, feel sweeter and lighter on the soul.
Wagner’s voice is sometimes aiming for a little out of his vocal range, but he still gets points for aiming and it never loses his sense of passion or righteousness that is for once in a musician, rightly placed. It’s hard to get a read ultimately on what his crowd thought of his set, many times it felt like a conversation between performer and audience, and I think we need more of that today.
Claire Uebelacker