Carry Illinois “Electric Charm” EP Release show is 5/12 @ MOHAWK (AUSTIN) TX

But her words remain open to interpretation, consistent with Lehman’s view of lyrics as poetry, and of music as the ultimate platform for shared meaning. “I used to do a lot of fictionalized writing, and then I took some songwriting workshops about using songwriting as truth-telling,” she recalls. “That flipped the switch, and I was like, ‘Oh, it’s really important to write about what you know and the things you see.’ That’s the stuff that people really connect to, and that was when I realized what songwriting for me was about.”

Garage Sale’s most magnanimous feat is that-despite the tragic surrounding circumstances, it never feels like an expression of helplessness or lack of hope. The band’s melody-forward arrangements, articulated as they are by Lehman and the band’s threading of influences (a little lush AOR here, some vintage college-rock mettle there), betray uplift, a sound to rally around. Take “Years to Come,” which comes midway through and catches a current of ringing new-wave guitars, marching choral drums and Brill Building harmonies. It’s a defiant gesture, relatively unadorned as the track may be. Lehman credits not only her band members for their performance and coming together, but also producer Vanderslice, who she says encouraged an approach that was both raw in emotion and rich in instrumental nuance.

Carry Illinois “Electric Charm” official music video 

“In the past, when I was messing around with different ways of expressing the actual music, it got buried under different effects and processing,” Lehman acknowledges. “I think John, immediately when he heard the music, knew making sure the vocals were right up front and the lyrics could be heard was top priority, and made me super confident recording with him. All the instruments were really present, but the vocals were also super-present. I’ve had people, in previous recordings, be like, ‘I liked it, but I couldn’t hear your words,’ and what I’ve heard from folks who I’ve shared [Garage Sale] with was, ‘Wow, he treated everything really well and made sure that your voice was heard. He did it right.’ And that made me really happy.”

Vanderslice, for his part, defers credit to his collaborators for what emerged, having admired how all five members “communicate well and know how to make adjustments and support a narrative.” And while confirming that Lehman’s vocals were emphatically projected, he adds that doing so also helped to “clear out dynamic space for [the band]. I tried to stay out of the way and just capture the energy. The band was so good I didn’t want to impose a production style.”