Rooted in Columbus and Chicago, up-and-coming garage rock group A-Go-Go’s music emanates a distinct Midwestern warmth. Keeping with precedent set by alt-rock and -country greats, they electrify the mundanities and misfortunes typical of young adulthood. Case in point: Their robust new single, “Hardly Saving.”
by guest writer Anna Pichler
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Stream: “Hardly Saving” – A-Go-Go
To some, Ohio is a verified, very Real Hell.
To me, though, it’s home. I split my time between Cincinnati, my hometown, and Columbus, where I attend university. Now, Ohio is no paradise; it pales in grandiosity compared to some states, perhaps. There’s something to be said, therefore, of how the drab, unmajestic Midwest has fostered immense creativity.
A number of excellent artists, writers, and musicians have emerged from the Buckeye State, and in my opinion, few bands sound quite as Ohio [adj.] as Columbus- (and as of recent, also Chicago-) based garage rock group A-Go-Go, comprised of Henry Schuellerman (vocals/guitar), Niko Francis (vocals/bass), Jack Smithberger (drums), and Case Koerner (guitar).
Their music is, to me, a musical translation of Midwestern adolescence in the often brutal, bizarre decade that is the 2020s — within their discography, friends smoke on a porch in the mid-March chill, lovers hold each other tightly on the CTA (for the uninitiated, the Central Ohio Transit Authority), dejected dudes sit half-stoned in their bedrooms, singin’ the blues.
Coursing through these songs are palpable warmth and vitality: Some wrap around you like a lived-in flannel jacket; others burst with a country-fried Replacements-esque vigor, sure to get a crowd going.
A-Go-Go’s songs might feel at home with the tracks on your folks’ college radio mixtapes, but they’re still thrillingly fresh, absolutely exuberant. Their latest release, the spirited “Hardly Saving,” is no exception, and a fine introduction to A-Go-Go for unfamiliar listeners.
Working jobs that I wanna quit
Hardly saving at all
Spending it all on stupid shit
Hardly saving at all
Schuellerman takes the lead on vocals here, narrating from the perspective of a guy just trying to figure shit out: from minor inconveniences (a stubbed toe, a misplaced phone) to more gnawing concerns (unfulfilling jobs, going home to no one night after night).
In keeping with alternative country and garage rock tradition, A-Go-Go prove that life’s soul-sucking miseries, large and small, can provide excellent fuel for a spirited tune: A passionate full-band effort, “Hardly Saving” is a ragged, anti-hero’s anthem that explodes with ebullient energy; its brisk, catchy chorus made to be sung along to. If you’ll be stuck somewhere dreary and cold this winter, this is the song to get — and keep — you going.
It’s not the money that I owe
It’s not the corner where I stub my toe
It’s not the road I drive on home
Thirty degrees and the first snow
House is cold but there’s no one home
Road is closed and the bridge is froze
“Hardly Saving” is the second single released in support of A-Go-Go’s debut LP, Today, Today.
To be released next February via local label Super Sport records [helmed by Evan Westfall (CAAMP) and Ali Bell], its credits include production by Colin Croom (Waxahatchee, Twin Peaks) and Jesse Henry (CAAMP), with mastering by Colin Miller (MJ Lenderman, Wednesday).
It’s a beautiful, irresistible record that sparkles with youthful spirit and beats with a heart too big to be confined to a college town.
If you, like me, have been cresting the recent wave of Americana-tinged indie rock, you won’t want to miss out on A-Go-Go: They make the everyday predicaments that come with having no money to your name the stuff of magic.
They make it rock.
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Anna Pichler is a freelance writer and English literature major at The Ohio State University. Her work has appeared in Paste and Ohio State publications including The Lantern, for which she is music columnist.
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:: stream/purchase Hardly Saving here ::
:: connect with A-Go-Go here ::
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Stream: “Hardly Saving” – A-Go-Go
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