album of the week: fates worse than death - short fictions
words: aaron eisenreich
Fates Worse Than Death, the latest release from Short Fictions (available from Acrobat Unstable) uses jangly guitars, punchy horns, and heartfelt vocals to portray a musical snapshot of the current city of Pittsburgh.While avoiding a common verse-chorus-verse pattern on much of the songs, the group creates a different feel with this record, where each song has a different movement. They guide you through these movements with guitar riffs that break down the song before being built upon, as well as spoken-word interludes from various sources (including Pittsburgh’s favorite fictional weatherman, Phil Connors). This structure gives the album a sense of forward momentum while also allowing for some truly massive takeaways.
The record begins with “Fates Worse Than Death Pt I: I Don’t Want to Wait Out the Apocalypse with Anyone but You.” The tune eases you into the album with single-strummed guitar, floor toms, and lots of open space under vocalist Sam Treber singing lines like “I felt so far from alright.” Eventually, the full band kicks in, slowly crescendoing under various alarming news reports before leading into “Fates Worse Than Death Pt II: Anthropocene.” This tune picks up the pace with a driving guitar riff accented by some creative drum work. The apocalyptic visions continue on this song, as the band breaks the song down to its bare bones, before building up into a huge moment.
A great deal of the album’s lyrics are influenced by climate change and living in the city of Pittsburgh. The title “Living in Places Like These Can Be Bad For Your Health (Can’t Live Here Anymore)” brings to mind both of these ideas. I can’t count how many days I’ve seen an alert that the air quality in East Liberty/Larimer is among the five worst in the country, and, on many days, I leave my apartment and the air reeks of sulfur and other chemicals from the coke works plant in Clarion. Along with the gentrification that Treber sings about on the song, there’s the fact that Pittsburghers are breathing unhealthy air from a factory actively contributing to climate change. It really is bad for you health to live in a place like this.
Despite the heavy subject matter, though, the song absolutely rocks, with one of the more instant sing-a-long moments on the opening lyrics “well my heart is in the basement / and my blood is in the kitchen / but I can’t live here anymore.” Treber goes on to discuss the inside rain, mold, and dirty dishes before lamenting that he doesn’t have the same joie de vivre as the college kids in Oakland anymore.
The lead single, “Really Like You,” is a fun bouncy track full of horns, bells, and killer guitar riffs that have been firmly lodged in my head since it first came out. While the lyrical content is comparatively lighter than other tunes, Treber still starts off the first verse with “I never expect things to go well / my mind will be my own living hell.” At points in the song, the vocals are a mix of clean lead vocals with screams mirroring them slightly softer in the background, showing off the group’s various sounds.
The album ends with “Property of Pigeons,” a slow-burner, that takes a left turn about halfway through, blowing up into a barrage of distorted guitars and some truly bombastic drum fills. As the band fades out, a voice comes in over the wreckage. The last thing we hear on this snapshot of Pittsburgh is Fred Rogers’s famous “always look for the helpers” quote. It’s a fitting clip, not just because of how often that quote is shared on social media after tragedies or the climate-related disasters so often referenced on the record, but also because of how important Rogers (it feels weird not saying “Mr. Rogers”) is to Pittsburgh. It fits perfectly at the end of the record, reminding us, that yes, there will be disasters and hard times ahead, but we’re all in it together and no one has to be without help.