Jam Robert Shredford's Debut EP and Continue to Smash the Patriarchy
/Last Friday, March 20th, Fort Collins surf rockers, Robert Shredford (self-proclaimed to be “named after an actor your mom loves”), dropped their debut EP, a self-titled series of spunky bops that explore facets of feminist critique. Sonically, the EP steeps in surf rock, with dashes of La Luz, Black Lips, and Shannon and the Clams woven throughout, and this band repurposes punky surf rock, infusing the genre with a critical feminist lens.
The EP opens up with the tune “Daytime Satan,” a whimsy bop that plunges listeners into the band’s surf rock ethos. The tune begins with punchy drums paired with catchy guitar chords, as vocalists chime in, “Rock n roll all day/ gotta see the night.” The harmonies continue as the song builds and crashes, and there is a low voice carrying the melodic vocals in the harmony, perhaps reflective of that underlying darkness alluded to in the song’s title.
For Harry Potter fans, the second song takes on “Moaning Myrtle,” highlighting her significance, and injecting the group’s surf-rock spirit with a haunt. The descending guitar chords that follow through the chorus illuminate Moaning Myrtle’s eeriness, but the lyrics of this song work to change her sad narrative, empowering Myrtle as this ghost who knows all the secrets, sees all the boys in the bathroom, and could spill her knowledge of these privacies at any moment.
“Queen Elizabeth’s Corgis” starts off with poppy guitar chords and a hand of heavy drums and symbols, taking the tempo up a notch and speeding things up. The lines of this song are equally empowering, as singers ask, “Pardon me are you the Queen?” and respond with infectious “Oh yeahs!” that continue throughout the tune. This song works to dismantle power constructs (even the Queen’s corgis are “queens”), couching an empowering message in a sweet, dance-y jam.
Probably the punkiest piece of the EP pursues with “Threat Landscape.” This feminist brew on navigating patriarchial landscapes imbued with the male gaze scathes with lyrics like, “threat landscape/ I know/ you wanna run the show,” and “haunted by the witches/ you never could outsmart.” Similar to “Moaning Myrtle,” this track’s harsh undertone’s stress the tune’s urgency and antagonism packed in a quick, gutting, garage-indie anthem.
The EP ends with the single from the music video the band put out last August, “Shreddy Betty,” another perfectly biting title. The music video is worth a watch, and acts as an interesting pair to the track. The video strings together old clips of girls in bikinis dancing on the beach, but the minor chords elude the tune’s interest in what’s underneath some of these flattened female personas. The vocals echo as the song swells, and creepy, titillating keys play out when a creature, shrouded by light images of happy women dancing, perhaps gesturing towards our own inner monsters, comes out of a cave to get a look at the bunches of Betties on the beach. This music video offers insight into this band’s intentional use of the surf rock genre to remodel musical narratives, impregnating them with crucial feminist punk.
Though Robert Shredford’s release party with Oxeye Daisy, which was scheduled for last Friday, has been postponed, the EP will certainly have you jamming during social distancing, while inspiring you to continue smashing the patriarchy.
All photos, videos, and embedded tracks per the artists featured and those credited. This feature was edited for brevity and clarity by BolderBeat.