Having started life out as a project for singer-songwriter Fritz Ortman, Local Weatherman has evolved into a Brooklyn-based quartet. Joined by Ford Murphy, David Murray, and Sam Shaghasemi, Local Weatherman‘s new EP, ‘Right One’ picks up where their 2023 self-titled left off, honing in on a sound that ruminates between power pop, emo, and slacker rock.
Rooted in its DIY tone, ‘Right One’ sees the quartet provide five emotionally-charged tracks. From ‘Thread’s opening jangle to ‘The Hole’s emo-rock eruption, to the fuzzy guitar melodies of ‘Out of the Vein,’ Local Weatherman shows dynamism and lyrical maturity. In between it all, there are infectious hooks (see the title track) and reflective moments like ‘Weighing’.
To learn more about ‘Right One,’ Local Weatherman frontman Fritz Ortman has given us a track-by-track insight into the EP. He spoke about how the five tracks took shape, their meaning, and how they came together in the studio.
1. Thread
‘Thread’ started out as an acoustic demo with sort of whispered lyrics. Once we started putting together ideas for the songs on this EP I knew that we wanted to make something that would be fun to play live, and that meant plugging into amps and letting that main intro riff scream. This song is basically about feeling wound up and tweaked out, feeling like you don’t have an outlet for the things you’re feeling.
When we were finishing up the song, we only had the verse and chorus parts together, and we wrote the bridge together at practice. The lyrics of the bridge kind of introduce the idea that when things are going well, it can be really easy to let that slip through your fingers by falling into bad habits.
2. The Hole
‘The Hole’ was the first song that I wrote for the EP, and we released it as a single back in the summer of 2024. I started writing this song when I was making a lot of changes in my life, and was feeling like I couldn’t break out of the cycle I was in. Once I brought the song to the band, we started playing it way faster and everything started to click.
One of my favourite things about this song is all of the backup vocals. We had our friends Jade (Alcantara), Grace (Bennett), and Kiersten (Chow) sing on the second chorus, and all of us sang the Beach Boys style “oohs” at the end.
3. Weighing
‘Weighing’ is the first song that Ford (Murphy – guitarist) wrote for Local Weatherman. He brought all of the main riffs for the song, and we turned it into a demo. When we went to record it we had a bunch of fun layering a bunch of guitars together and getting a bunch of different sounds.
Lyrically, the song is about self-doubt and realising that you have to make a change to break out of a depressive episode. Once we got around to finishing it up with our friend Sean (Mackillop), we added vocals from him, Grace, Kiersten, and me. Sean was also able to sneak in a loop of him playing bongos on the second verse, and I think, despite the loud guitars, this is our grooviest song.
4. Out of the Vein
This is a song that I was tinkering with for a few years before we went to record it. It was originally a breakup song that featured a lyric where I said “out of the vein,” but as the memory of that breakup faded into distant memory, I rewrote the song to be about losing touch with old friends as time passes. I kept the title as a nod to Third Eye Blind, who were a big inspiration for us when we were recording these songs.
After we finished it up in the studio, we didn’t know exactly what to do with the bridge. Sean ended up adding some piano in his studio, and we added some cool effects to the vocals, and I think that ended up being one of my favourite parts of the record.
5. Right One
‘Right One’ is about trying to get your shit together in a relationship where you feel like you can’t seem to do anything right. The whole song is built around the refrain of wanting to be right for someone, even though you seem to keep making mistakes. I imagined a scenario of basically gambling away all of your money and then praying to God for salvation.
The end of this song is my favourite thing we’ve recorded. Sam played keys in the studio on this one. I laid down an organ track and some 12-string, and Ford has a blistering slide solo. There are also dozens of vocal tracks of me and Kiersten singing the refrain over and over again. I hope we were able to drive the point home on this one.
‘Right One’ EP by Local Weatherman is out now on Karol Records.
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