On May 23, the latest full-length record from the Thalia Zedek Band arrives; like the previous five it’s available through the auspices of the Thrill Jockey label of Chicago, Illinois, USA. And like those prior volumes, The Boat Outside Your Window documents its maker’s enduring growth as a guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, and bandleader, as bassist Winston Braman and drummer Gavin McCarthy return to a lineup that’s solidified by pedal steel guitarist Karen Sarkisian. The 10-song set, released on limited coke bottle clear vinyl, compact disc, and digital, reinforces Zedek as one of the underground rock scene’s most reliable and yet consistently undersung figures.
Thalia Zedek’s musical journey began at the dawn of the 1980s in the vicinity of Boston, Massachusetts. The band was White Women, long represented by a sole song, “Midge,” released on a compilation tape in 1981 by the Propeller label. The same tape offered “Catholic Boy” by Dangerous Birds, a somewhat higher profile outfit featuring Zedek; they released the single “Alpha Romeo” b/w “Smile In Your Face” in 1982. After that, it was Uzi, a highly regarded but short-lived outfit that broke ground on the fringes of post-punk and art rock, releasing one EP, “Sleep Asylum,” on Homestead Records in 1986.
Zedek made a bigger splash on the national scene when she joined New York City’s Live Skull for the albums Dusted (1987, Homestead) and Positraction (1989, Caroline). Upon Live Skull’s disbandment, Zedek joined Come, a critically lauded heavy indie two-guitar four-piece who made a big splash with their 1992 debut 11:11 for Matador Records.
Come had a nice run of it on record before winding down in 2001; from there, Zedek branched out on her own, first with two solo studio efforts under her own name, Been There and Gone (2001, Matador) and Trust Not Those In Whom Without Some Touch of Madness (2004, Thrill Jockey), and then with The Boat Outside Your Window, six records fronting the Thalia Zedek Band and four as one-third of the ensemble E, alongside guitarist James Sanford and until their most recent LP, drummer Gavin McCarthy doing double duty; he’s replaced on 2024’s Living Waters by Ernie Kim.
The Boat Outside Your Window establishes an instrumental reset with roots in the band’s prior effort, 2021’s Perfect Vision, which introduced Karen Sarkisian’s pedal steel for one track. With this new batch of songs, violist David Michael Curry and pianist Mel Lederman, both longtime members of the Zedek Band, make their exit.
There are still strong ties to Zedek’s creative history, as Beth Heinberg, who played piano on Been There and Gone, returns for one track, “Aliyah,” on the new record, and likewise, Nancy Asch, who guested on percussion for one track on Uzi’s EP. While Curry’s departure surely alters the band’s instrumental thrust, Zedek’s distinctive blend of heaviness and melodicism is intact as The Boat Outside Your Window’s opener “Tsunami” plays.
Sarkisian’s pedal steel is striking across the track, diverting away from the expected country-ish tones for synth-like timbres, though the sound of Zedek’s voice is an appealingly orienting aspect in the equation here and across the record. Beauty moves aren’t uncommon to the Zedek Band’s oeuvre, but “Aliyah,” with its combination of pedal steel and piano, delivers an air of appealing prettiness without sacrificing edge.
Featuring a sturdy rhythmic bedrock, “Pin” is an especially strong serving of Zedek’s writing prowess. “Naming Names” offers more recognizable strains of pedal steel without succumbing to the conventional, and “Disarm” attains a familiar and welcome level of rock intensity. “Circus” is a catchier bit of business, and then “Boat” slows it down, the better to spotlight the combo of Zedek’s voice and guitar.
But what sets this record apart is how forthright it is in melodic terms, an aspect well illustrated by the lively near pop-rock of “Shoes” and extended in the late highlight “Dissolve.” And then “Under Weather” is the closing wildcard, a hooky hard rocker that might’ve been a radio hit (albeit with less guitar crunch) in an earlier era, like when Dangerous Birds was extant. Altogether, The Boat Outside Your Window reasserts Thalia Zedek as a musician whose sound is in constant development.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
