Out Now: Webb Chapel – Vernon Manner SM085
Little was said about World Cup, Webb Chapel’s sleeper hit of 2024. Recorded and released during a time of immense upheaval for the band, people in their inner circle became growingly convinced that it was a swan song, owed in equal parts to the volatile nature of the group and the reclusive nature of primary songwriter Zack Claxton in general.
Originating as a solo project, the philly-by-texas musician’s prolific grit has spawned nine, count them, nine, releases since 2022, each one a relative middle finger to philly’s laissez-faire scene of ‘ultimate homies’ who seem content to buy pedals and impersonate 90’s lollapalooza aesthetics. Vernon Manner, not to be confused with Vernon Manor (2024), shoots off like a cannon, increasing the depth of field to anthemic territories, while maintaining a vulnerability that feels almost tragic.
From a listener’s perspective, the latest iteration of Webb Chapel seems to pull significant influence from The Troggs, Cleaners from Venus, and Locust Abortion Technician era Butthole Surfers, to name a few. Bassist/vocalist Rachel Gordon, ex-drummer Christian Mailloux (see volatile), and The Strange Mono label’s Jess Kramer provide the perfect tether for VM’s kaleidoscopic smorgasbord, anchoring the songs with a weight that may have become pure ether otherwise. Elements of menacing punk and hardcore are filtered through a prism of drugged out acoustic bliss as Vernon Manner oscillates between a far-out daydream and urgent reality.
“World Cup was like trying to finish a record while the house is burning down, and this one was more like sifting through rubble, but hearing sirens approaching”, quips Claxton, whose “I dunno” mannerisms come across as more of a defense mechanism than a front.
This ethos is perhaps most present in “Consolation Prize,” another reworked number from 2022’s Like the Country. With the original recording’s heavy breathing buried beneath a newfound immediacy, “Consolation Prize” is like the shit out of luck Loser’s Cup, its narrator fighting tooth and nail for the scraps of little victories.
Hopelessness aside, Webb Chapel’s signature style is equal parts dizzying melody and hooks that feel like they could have just as likely been lifted from tin pan alley as whatever laundry list of bands are being regurgitated at the moment (cough mbv, cough dinosaur jr.)
Not to say that there isn’t a reason to bang your head here. There is, but there’s also room to think about the brain cells you’ve lost along the way. Vernon Manner is at its heart an album of contradictions. Heartstrings are tugged one moment and then shredded into oblivion the next. Sonic pallets are explored and then pulverized, leaving one by the end feeling exhausted, exhilarated, and ready to get back in fucking line.
PROCEEDS BENEFIT PAWS (Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society)
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