After extensive personal shadow work and press from her last album diminishing her role, Christina Schneider—whose stage name is Locate S,1—took the lead on her newest release to deliver a well-executed punch of emotionally complex songs. The new experimental pop album, Wicked Jaw, was released last Friday, July 28 courtesy of label Captured Tracks (Lemon Twigs, DIIV, Mac Demarco).
In order to even begin diving deeper into the tracks, this is an album that requires context for all of Schneider’s magic to shine through. The title Wicked Jaw, noted as a nod to a line from a Dashiell Hammett noir novel, sets an expectation for harsh truths. What Schneider achieves is an honest vulnerability that speaks to her strong resiliency. As a listener, the motivation behind her words sparks healing inspiration.
“As an over-communicator who often can’t control what comes out of my mouth, I instantly identified with the idea of having a ‘wicked jaw.’ Throughout the writing of this album, I was learning how to be less of a snarky jerk, and trying to work on the underlying anger that causes me to lash out when I feel threatened instead of just processing those emotions on my own time,” says Schneider.
As the main songwriter and sole producer of Wicked Jaw, Schneider builds dramatic juxtapositions in its 10 tracks, sending dark lines under the radar with a soft and freeing tone of voice. The album was written over a two-year period, starting in the summer of 2020, while beginning treatment for childhood sexual abuse. The result is an expressive album of interpersonal analysis and self reflection that questions what it means to be a survivor, but takes it even further by questioning what it means to be a woman, a modern American and more.
In the bossa nova track “Go Back to Disnee,” Schneider gives a smooth and gentle delivery of the line “Under the blankets, into the plastic dreams/ Into the comfort of parental regimes” in a way where the anger and vile meaning underneath could easily be missed with a surface-level listen. But this juxtaposition takes a consistent seat at the center of Schneider’s songwriting for this album, creating a rich emotional complexity and showing off her ability as an artist to turn pain into beauty. It’s a therapeutic release that emphasizes sitting with the discomfort, finding a way through it and truly healing—not focusing on an escape or blindly living with it.
“I think writing is a wonderful way to process trauma and explore the inner workings of your emotional landscape. Making a beautiful song about something dark and painful gives that darkness a place to live and be seen,” says Schneider. “People don’t like talking about traumatic events, so from a very early age I learned that putting it in a song became the only way that I could express those feelings. People can connect with a song much more easily than they connect with your personal anecdote of sadness.”
Beyond the contrast of what’s being said versus how it sounds is a deeper intricacy in the musical architecture of the songs, including unusual time signatures and odd metered phrases catering to a musician’s ear. The lead single “You Were Right About One Thing” somehow makes complex rhythms and chord leaps seamless and silky. Its songwriting has an underlying noir theme created through “breezily tragic storytelling,” explains Schneider, that hints back to the origins of the record’s name. This is brought to the forefront in the music video directed by Tristan Scott-Behrends. However, instead of the expected dark, grainy noir aesthetic, the song is brought to life with a colorful twist.
Reviews of Locate S,1’s last album, Personalia, released in 2020, diminished Schneider’s work and displaced credit for the iconic electropop sound to its producer and her romantic partner Kevin Barnes (of Montreal). Considering the extremely personal content, Wicked Jaw is the first Locate S,1 album that Schneider fully and solely produced herself. She says that she wanted to make all the different types of sounds she loves to hear and see what happened, and she’s proud of the outcome, which has given her a boost of confidence. This album is also the first time that the band has been able to record all together in the studio, which comes through in the passion and cohesiveness of the final product. Schneider’s backing band features Ross Brand (guitar, percussion), Jojo Glidewell (piano, synth, percussion), Zack Milster (bass, percussion, pedal steel), and Clayton Rychlik (drums, percussion, sax).
Although Schneider set out to own her sound, and does so masterfully in this album, she makes a point about exploring and knowing your limits. As any album, it’s still a process of collaboration in the studio.
“I might know the sound I want, but our engineer Drew [Vandenberg] knows how to actually make it happen. I can track a lead guitar line on a demo that I know I can’t play live, but Ross can. Being able to take full control of this album actually gave me the opportunity to feel less threatened by the idea of accepting help,” says Schneider. “I’ve gotten better at asserting myself when I’m sure about how I want things to go, and relinquishing power when I know someone else can do it better or has a good idea about how to do it differently.”
Overall, Wicked Jaw is a triumphant work, both in message and display of skill. In both her personal and professional life, Schneider’s learned ability to accept, let go, grow and change for the better shines through this set of deeply personal songs that traverse genres in a uniquely Locate S,1 way.
WHO: of Montreal, Locate S,1 and Night Palace
WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 23, 8 p.m. (doors)
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
HOW MUCH: $18
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