Erika Wennerstrom – Sweet Unknown (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 57:05 minutes | 646 MB | Genre: Alternative
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Partisan Records
There’s something somewhat frightening, yet utterly liberating when leaving the confines of a successful band to venture solo — especially a band whose latest record was called “effortlessly brilliant” by critics. After five albums together, Austin-based heartland garage rockers Heartless Bastards decided to go on hiatus in 2016. Lead singer Erika Wennerstrom used the break to take a breather before beginning work on her own solo material. The result of these solitary writing and recording sessions is her solo debut, “Sweet Unknown”.
However, fans of Heartless Bastards need not worry. The band haven’t broken up. We’d been going for so long and everyone in the band was just ready for a little break. But I had songs in me that needed to come out. I didn’t think it was fair to push them to keep going and I didn’t want to do it without them under the band name,’ explains Wennerstrom, who enlisted the help of HB’s Jesse Ebaugh to play bass on most of the tracks on ‘Sweet Unknown’. While Wennerstrom has always been honest in the Heartless Bastards songs she’s written, the tracks that make up ‘Sweet Unknown’ are even more personal and reflective and, for her, quite transformative as well. The album kicks off with the feel good road trip vibes of ‘Twisted Highway’, which Wennerstrom says sums up her musical journey on ‘Sweet Unknown’. On the sombre psych rocker ‘Staring Out The Window’ the artist digs even deeper into the inner workings of her mind. The upbeat and optimistic ‘Letting Go’ epitomizes that experience. ‘Good To Be Alone’ is just one sonic outcome of a formative trip to Big Bend taken soon after the band decided to go on hiatus. With ‘Sweet Unknown’ Erika Wennerstrom bravely invites the listener in to experience her trials and tribulations of life amidst a cosy soundscape of deeply emotive vocals and melodies to what is ultimately the soundtrack to her soul.
Tracklist:
1-01. Erika Wennerstrom – Twisted Highway (05:30)
1-02. Erika Wennerstrom – Extraordinary Love (06:48)
1-03. Erika Wennerstrom – Letting Go (04:59)
1-04. Erika Wennerstrom – Time (06:16)
1-05. Erika Wennerstrom – Be Good To Yourself (04:46)
1-06. Erika Wennerstrom – Staring Out The Window (06:04)
1-07. Erika Wennerstrom – Good To Be Alone (10:16)
1-08. Erika Wennerstrom – Like A Bird (05:01)
1-09. Erika Wennerstrom – Gravity (07:22)
