Fire Track: Wussy – “The Great Divide”

Cincinnati band Wussy are back with their first LP in six years. The aptly titled Cincinnati Ohio – out November 15th on Shake It Records – is the first album from the five-piece since 2018’s What Heaven Is Like. Wussy are known among critics and their loyal fanbase for releasing albums of lyrically deft pop songs awash within a blanket of noise. And it seems Cincinnati Ohio is no exception – punctuated with many of the familiar Wussy sounds: a jangly mix of electric and acoustic guitars; the dueling lead vocals of Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker; Joe Klug and Mark Messerly’s driving rhythm section; and warm rolling waves of pedal steel – this time split between late Wussy guitar player John Erhardt and newest member Travis Talbert.

On Cincinnati Ohio, the band leans heavily into its penchant for cinematic Americana landscapes, drawing stylistic inspiration from influences such as Calexico, Mazzy Star, R.E.M., Sun Volt, and the Mekons (whose Jon Langford painted the album’s cover art). This Midwestern wall-of-sound method clearly works for Wussy, who according to The Ringer, has been “quietly crafting one of the great rock catalogs of the decade.”

Cincinnati Ohio comes out November 15th, along with two limited edition Wussy EPs: The Great Divide and Cellar Door.

Pre-order all three at Wussy’s Bandcamp

“Lyrically, I struggled for a while to get this one right. It’s a study on the minutiae of loss. The things we leave behind.. the ways in which we live on, and maybe even reveal ourselves to others, after we’re gone. How something so simple and small – like an old hard drive or guitar cable – can mean so much. Realizing in one crystal moment that this thing you borrowed from someone can’t be returned, because they’re not here anymore. Creating this was part of a grieving process that I’m not – we’re not – entirely finished with, but I think working on this song helped.

Most of the tracks for this new record were written a few years back, prior to the start of recording. But ‘The Great Divide’ is one of the exceptions. I had the melody and chord progression as far back as 2019, but hadn’t written anything to it yet. Near the end of our studio sessions for this new record, I was finally able to put the right words to it, and I texted the band a demo. I thought at best, it could be an acoustic closer or maybe go onto a future album. But Joe [Klug] really championed it, and was willing to set up his drums at The Lodge all over again just to record this song with the full Wussy force. If not for the band and John Hoffman being willing to make that extra effort, this song wouldn’t exist in this format.

The B-side features a couple tracks that are from the What Heaven Is Like studio sessions. We realized we still had a couple of songs with John E. that hadn’t yet seen the light of day, so we’re thrilled to put those out into the world.” – Lisa Walker