Questions pebble the rocky beach of Guts Club’s debut album,The Arm Wrestling Tournament. Lindsey Baker wanders this beach with a very apropos, steamy-salty wind blowing her hair in a buncha directions. Her eyes hide behind motherfuckin’ black sunglasses, and she’s wearing a Lynyrd’s Skin Yard t-shirt with the sleeves cut off. People watch from a safe distance; they know Baker as a former child beauty pageant star turned troubadour/arm wrestling champion. Baker carries a guitar the way Robert Frost carried a hatchet: as a tool through which tension and rage can be released. Her simple, emotional delivery reminds me more of Don Carpenter than Frost though. A combination of childlike observations and desires with more cynical, vulgar scenes. Baker the nomad rides across the American countryside, melting hearts and smashing cheekbones along the way, like:
Some times I feel like a poor truck driver
people think I’m no good
cos all I can do is drive around arm-wrestle sweaty men
win some money
find my family
The Guts Club sound is perverse and gentle (oh snap, contradictions) in The Arm Wrestling Tournament. Baker sings about all of the sweet, cute things that make America great: trucks, Halloween, babies, horses, love, obesity. She also sings about all of the human things that make humans terrifying creatures: jealousy, rage, devotion, and revenge. If you’re in Brooklyn — like you aren’t! — on February 10, Guts Club will very gladly kick your ass at The Rock Shop.
Stream Guts Club’s newest album The Arm Wrestling Tournament below:
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• Gut’s Club: http://www.iamgutsclub.com