Album Review: Nowhere Washington, 'Say What You Wanna Say'

Nowhere Washington, Say What You Wanna Say Credit: Courtesy

(Self-released, digital)

Ever since the breakout success of Vermont native Noah Kahan a few years ago, there’s been a disconnect between perceptions of the Green Mountain music scene and what it actually looks and sounds like. Some music fans from outside the state have concocted a fantasy of young Mumford & Sons-loving folk rockers singing about clinical depression and having massive group hugs. At least Spotify finally stopped telling randos to move here because they streamed a lot of stomp-clap music, but the illusion persists.

The reality is that small-town bands like Nowhere Washington — a collection of middle-aged musicians with day jobs, all clad in denim on stage, playing pop-infused indie rock — are much more endemic on local stages than someone like Kahan.

That’s not to say the band’s new EP, Say What You Wanna Say, doesn’t stand up on its own. The six-song collection is an intriguing mix of roots rock, Americana and pop. The group has been around since 2016, forming in the basement of a house on a dead-end street in, yep, Washington, Vt., before becoming a fixture in the Montpelier scene.

After a strong debut release in 2023, titled Long Time, the band didn’t want to wait another seven years for a follow-up. So they headed into Ben Dunham’s Jug Brook Studio in Cabot to record the new EP.

The Americana anthem “Nowhere” kicks things off. Vocalists Nick Sherman and Angela Paladino trade verses, describing a gig at a motorcycle dealership that’s gone off the rails. It’s a good introduction to the band, from Sherman and Paladino’s harmonized vocals to the driving rhythm section of drummer Jeremiah Johnson and bassist Littleton Tyler. Sherman’s keys and Kyle Martel’s guitar work serve the song, only popping out for occasional flashes.

“SWYWS” shows off Paladino’s soaring vocals as she takes the lead. Sherman, who writes the majority of the band’s music, told Seven Days in an email that he “started writing a lot more for Angela on this record.” Indeed, Paladino is a big presence on Say What You Wanna Say. Her soulful delivery adds necessary spice to the group and shines on songs such as “Haunt Me,” a hard-driving pop-rock song featuring a frenetic beat from Johnson.

“If you don’t want me, why do you haunt me?” Johnson demands on the track, channeling the out-of-control emotional state of suffering from unrequited love. It’s the closest to full-on foot-stomping rock and roll the band gets, though it immediately pulls back with the country-rock ballad “Florida.” The EP is smartly sequenced, going from strength to strength while never getting locked into one stylistic mode.

By the final track, “Fade Away,” Nowhere Washington have made clear exactly who they are and what they’re going for musically. And their formula is by no means complicated. They make straightforward indie-roots music, a soundtrack to rolling green hills and small towns — nothing that’s going to convince an influencer from Bushwick to move to Waterbury. But really, is that such a bad thing?

Say What You Wanna Say is available on major streaming services.