no. 21 — Foil Deer by Speedy Ortiz / Haunted Painting by Sad13 / Mouthguard by Sadie Dupuis
By: Jenna Sylvester
Tags: Personal Essay, Poetry, Album Review, Speedy Ortiz, Music

I just re-watched High Fidelity (2000) and realized I’m more like John Cusack’s character than I’d like to be, which is truly a blow to the ego. I saw that movie as a kid, and I definitely internalized the whole ‘mixed-tape-as-love-language’ plot line, seeing as how I have made a mix tape for every person I have tried to date. But I started this journey, and despite how pretentiously self-aware I feel at this current moment writing unasked for album “reviews”, I am going to write this damn post, especially because today’s band(s) are decidedly not pretentious, and deserve more nice words written about them.

I found out about Speedy Ortiz because they were another one of my hometown heroes. The frontdemon, Sadie Dupuis, left MIT[1] to pursue poetry at UMass Amherst. I started out loving Speedy Ortiz as a Massachusetts band that graduated from basements and were playing bigger DIY venues. Then I found Sadie’s poetry. After that, I found her self-produced solo project, Sad13. I love all of them for very different reasons, but love them even more for being born of the same person.

First off, Sadie Dupuis is a fucking hero. She deliberately wears high-femme clothing on stage to encourage young girls to see themselves in her place. Following her on twitter is always a learning experience; I’ve learned about Spotify and Amazon’s horrible treatment/payment of artists. She’s an avid support in her community, which seems to extend all over the East Coast. She started No Music For ICE, an organized boycott for musicians to stand against Amazon’s support and funding of ICE. She’s also responsible for the label / poetry journal Wax Nine, of which I’m an avid reader. Through all her projects, she’s put out at least 7 albums and an entire book of poetry. I’m sure there’s more that I’m not even aware of. She has deeply smart takes on every subject she takes on. Also, every music video she puts out is ridiculously well done.

I love Speedy Ortiz as a high-energy, complicated, rock band. I love Sad13 as a more minimalist, pop project. Sadie has said in some interviews that she likes to add as many complicated guitar riffs to Speedy Ortiz songs as she can, which makes her pop projects in Sad13 a different kind of challenge. What I really appreciate about her though, is the way she makes her music and her writing accessible to everyone. She’s much smarter than me, and definitely better at a million things than I am, but instead of feeling *as* intimidated as I usually would, her ability and willingness to engage with everyone about her art makes it that much more enjoyable[2].

As for her poetry, every time I open Mouthguard, her collection of poems published in 2018, I am confused and intrigued and inspired. Reading her poems makes me want to get off my ass and write. I got to see her do a reading at Atomic Books in Baltimore, and every time she gave a little context to her poems, it felt like a revelation. I had brought a notebook to the event, but was so enraptured with her reading that I forgot to take notes. I deeply regret it now. I wish I could remember everything she said.

Sad13’s newest album, Haunted Painting, has a no-skip track list. My favorites are “With Baby” and “The Crow”. Foil Deer, the album that made me fall in love with Speedy Ortiz, has my all-time favorite song “Raising the Skate”. Mouthguard has doozies of poems like “Everyone Loves And Aflame Person” and “Your Legs Look Alright to You”. Listen and read everything you could ever possibly read of hers. You won’t regret it.

Listen to Speedy Ortiz here, Sad13 here, and buy Mouthguard at your local bookstore.