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Comedy Minus One
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leading up to

by the rutabega

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1.
plague 03:07
i saw a man crawl out of the pile his eyes were red and as fake as his smile his teeth were fangs and his words were the plague i don't believe him and i'm not afraid oh to fly above the cretins and all of their politics i have the best friends around they never leave me dead on the ground they let me cry all over their clothes i hope they die after they get old oh you don't understand the qualities that we are dealing with
2.
fences 03:51
the queen of rain and snow is always watching she’s so enlightened it must be so exhausting i want to stay here you want to go you’re building fences and nobody even knows the priestess wakes up singing funeral songs she’s so inviting it must be so exciting try to see the top of the water i can't believe i'm bottoming out again i want to stay here you want to go you’re building fences and nobody even knows i want to stay here you want to leave you’re building fences with brutalist honesty
3.
unsilent 05:18
beside me you're silent no one wants to hear you tell yourself beside me you're solid you never take our time you're not allowed come on come on you pull your hair back hold your head up graceful fingers shape the air around you start to shout a healing sound you start to shout come on come on unsilent you're holy exactly what we need you start to shout a healing sound you start to shout come on come on
4.
gone 09:22
i came home and the house was dark i could tell that something was wrong i can still remember the sound that the door made i can see the dust that was floating in our space please don't leave don't be gone from us
5.
angles 02:49
i’m voting for a woman with or without transition jump in the canoe i don’t know what to do hunting and fake affronting let’s go to miami we are all inhuman clawing through dirt and hurting someone else to chew when your mouth is askew confronting baby bunting let’s go to miami all this time you were trying to lie there were angels in your head all this time you were trying to hide there were angles in your head get up get up fall down get up get up fall down get over get up fall down get over it
6.
discriminant 04:37
in the woods today i saw a flash of blue and red and black and i knew it was you i tried to take a picture is this the place where you have been hidden or hiding or dying if you won’t end this then i will memories of the worst time such unpromising material this sudden indulgence calling out in many folding voices is this the place where you have been hidden or hiding or dying if you won’t end this then i will so breathe in deep breathe in deep memories of the worst time such unpromising material this sudden indulgence calling out in many folding voices the wrong people making the wrong choices
7.
barely 05:02
right on you’re running i think you mean it you’ll be a good cover for somebody’s son i’ll be a spent bullet from the back of your gun the kids are glowing this yard is haunted when you look at me i'm only scribbled in now the kids are hiding and trying to blend in but don’t come back here i will move on you will not bury me though i am barely it’s a new year now it’s been a decade and change you'll be a good faker with one foot awake i will be a bad dream when you sleep through the day so hold my hand and let’s jump the fence the pool is closed but we’re in the deep end handmaids and hurricanes unbridled ideation everyone is leaving the breadcrumbs around i wish they’d quit helping and just let me drown so don’t come back here i will move on you will not bury me though i am barely
8.
walkonahead 04:00
settle up now you’ve got a little time don’t be afraid it’s all been leading up to this walk on ahead i’ll be beside you i’ll be everywhere slowly unfurl our flag and wrap yourself up in it they told you it was a disease but we know better your attention goes where it needs to go
9.
mulch 06:00
washing your feet while the sun comes up before we walk before we jump into the river my heart is a crane my lungs are blue herons breathe in or breathe out you lean in and oh your soul will soar our bodies become bread for the trees become the fruit become the seeds we all break down someone has to be on the bridge when it collapses gently down before we fall into the river

about

"A substantial record all the way through." - Rosy Overdrive

"The songs build, pull back, and build once again to emotional crescendos. It’s masterful songwriting, beautifully ornamented, and shows a band still well into their prime." - Complex Distractions

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“Oh, to fly above the cretins and all of their politics.” The heroic opening bars of “Plague,” the first song on Leading Up To, promise — and deliver — a rousing return for The Rutabega. Through 20 years and counting the band has grown an ecosystem rich with anthemic guitars, pop with a carbonated heart, and inexplicably resilient intimacy. In a true midwest weathering of the seasons, the South Bend, Indiana duo is here to remind us that there are things we can still rely on: ourselves, each other, and music.

Singer-songwriter/guitarist Joshua Hensley and drummer/carpist Garth Mason are as symbiotic as ever. It’s evident they’ve accrued more than a decade of live performance together. Each occupies their space and still manages to weave around the other in a full and fluid complement. We can hear the machinery sometimes, the glimpse of synth and the actual and figurative bells and whistles. This is the exertion of life, the natural friction of relationship rendered in a plaintive, driving plea. The outcome is songs that are as honest and hardworking as they come. The Rutabega are showing up for us, and inviting us to do the same. “You start to shout a healing sound. You start to shout, come on, come on.”

The first half of the record developed as much of the band’s work does, through the organic growth that happens while playing live. The Rutabega is a distinctly community experience, their shows are visceral points of connection. Though Hensley’s vocals tell a faceted story of human emotion on their own, he often invites friends and family to sing with him. His steadiest vocal collaborator on Leading Up To, Emily Trimboli-Hensley, is a light spilling out over every edge. Most of the second half of the record was developed in the studio. As Hensley tells it, the songs came together quickly, a function of their enduring collaboration, their trust in themselves, and in us, to do things differently. If anything, Leading Up To tells us that whatever we are, we’re always changing. We can transition from what we know and expect, what we reliably turn to, into something unfamiliar, but we’re still connected.

Lyrically and vocally, The Rutabega does not abandon us. Midway through the collection is “Gone,” a true-to-form nearly 10-minute expanding epic, the mighty taproot burrowing deeper into the darkness because that’s where the nourishment lies. “I came home and the house was dark, I could tell that something was wrong.” These are moments of tectonic shift and Rutabega pulls them into focus for us so we can better begin to map. We may not know where we are, but we’re here together. “Please don’t leave. Don’t be gone from us.” In “Walk On Ahead,” Hensley chronicles the end of his grandfather’s life, the gratitude in knowing we have said what we need to say, and the type of love that frees us. Mason lost his grandfather while the duo was recording, and the album is dedicated to their grandparents. The feeling of family is urgent throughout the record, as is the appeal that we are all family. “I’ll be beside you. I’ll be everywhere.”

The record closes with “Mulch,” darker and more driving than the handful of songs that precede it. This darkness is the familiar shadow of Rutabega’s hopefulness, a poignant return to some sonic and emotional churn. Something more like soil. And soil’s where we start again.

Like the forest and the mycelium, The Rutabega is generative. They know we’re moving forward, and they’re not afraid. “Our bodies become bread for the trees, become the fruit, become the seeds, we all break down.”

—Anne Hensley, Weirder Wonderland

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For TV / Film licensing, please contact Lyle Hysen at Bank Robber Music - info@bankrobbermusic.com

credits

released October 28, 2022

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all songs performed by Joshua Hensley and Garth Mason

Emily Trimboli-Hensley: vocals on 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 & 9

Angela Blake, Bailey Williams, Julie Poole & Rachel Berryman: vocals on 3
Maurice Rickard (snwv): intro to 4, recorded live at the Terrace Bay Hotel during PRF Thundersnow, February 15, 2020. snwv.bandcamp.com
Melissa Scales: vocals on 9
Nathanael F. Trimboli: vocals on 4 & 8

Jared Myers: additional lyrics on 7

mastered & lacquers cut by Carl Saff
front cover by Jay Ryan
additional design and layout by Nathanael F. Trimboli

special thanks to Emily, Nicole, Jack & Priscilla

for the Grandparents

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Released by Comedy Minus One, a record label located in Mercer County, New Jersey, USA.

comedyminusone.com/releases/leading-up-to/

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the rutabega South Bend, Indiana

The Rutabega is a Carp Rock duo from South Bend, Indiana.

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