Chicago’s Edging sound like a party. Specifically, like one in 1920s Weimar Berlin—dancing as the world burns in a fire pit of climate catastrophe, unemployment and political unrest. The scratchy vocals of Faith Callaway (they/them), crack with Janis Joplin’s grit and Poly Styrene’s sarcastic, incredulous delivery. They dovetail with Will Sallee’s (he/him) more harmony driven style, as the duo’s lyrics bite with malcontent at the state of the world. With no lead guitar, Curt Oren’s solid saxophone lines are the primary lead—drawing a line to their punk forebearers like The Stooges and James Chance and the Contortions. Edging formed as a reaction to the state of the world. “We were really angry,” says Callaway. “Trump was president for a second time. We wanted to scream about everything—the way trans and black and brown people were being treated. ICE. It’s just continued to get worse and worse.”
Their new album, Unload Your Shame, out now via Hex Records, ais a mission statement of sorts for them. “The best way to live your life is to be you, be an open book. The people who think your shit is weird, let them go. But the other people will love you,” explains Sallee. “Live authentically, be you. Someone will love you, guaranteed. I mean if people can love us, they can definitely love you.”
For Callaway growing up in rural South Carolina, that was a lesson they had to learn the hard way. “You’re surrounded by bigotry, racism, poverty and people being destroyed by that,” they explain. “So I was always like ‘there’s got to be another way to operate through life’.”
A self-described “outcast,” they were always on the search for a sense of belonging. “I was made fun of by a lot of people and the first community I found where I got true acceptance was with the punk kids. So that’s what I surrounded myself with.”
Unload Your Shame‘s highlights include the propulsive, “Selfish” (“Dismantling of the institutions/ that force feed their own solutions”) and the powerful “Scam Likely” (“You eat while I stay poor”), both urgently political. “We should be building better tables to feed each other on, rather than fences to divide ourselves from each other,” Callaway explains. Equally powerful are the more personal numbers like “Girth,” which deals with self-loathing, and “Heet,” which Callaway describes as “a direct comment on my physical trauma, like rape and being taken advantage in that way. I had too many experiences like that and I needed to get it out.”
Edging continues to fight for their right to party. “We’re stuck in this really terrible situation. Most of us can’t financially afford our rent and food,” Callaway says, “but while the trauma exists you’ve got to find your joy. That’s the only thing that’ll keep you going.”
Unload Your Shame is out now and you can order it from Hex Records. Follow Edging on Facebook and Instagram for future updates.
