Since 2010, Middle Class Fashion has been creating catchy, textured, and, in some notable instances, criminal sounds. At times charming and other times deliberately rough around the edges, the longstanding St. Louis act has garnered a well-earned reputation for making music on their own terms.
Outlasting many of their contemporaries, Middle Class Fashion has endured through musical flexibility and evolution. Originally founded as a duo by singer and keyboardist Jenn Malzone and guitarist Brad Vaughn, over the years MCF saw a number of members shift in and out of its ranks before ultimately adding guitarist/vocalist Lindsey McDanel and drummer Matt F. Basler. The group’s most recent addition, bassist Dylan Clubb, signed on in 2021. This Saturday, January 31, that solidified lineup will celebrate the release of its first album together, With Affection, the band’s sixth overall, with a show at Off Broadway.
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As Malzone explains, making a new album wasn’t originally the intention.
“It started with just releasing singles,” she says. “We wanted to put out songs as we made them. I wanted to take advantage of getting singles out quickly and seeing how they went over. But after a while, I realized that those singles, plus some other new songs I wrote, comprised an album.”
Initially, Malzone says, she thought of the tracks as akin to individual journal entries—slices of life recorded as a view into the window of her day-to-day reality. But over time, she began to feel like they represented a more cohesive theme. Taking nearly two years to record, compile, and complete, the finished product touches on themes of solitude and romance while giving listeners a glimpse into Malzone’s world.
“For this album, I was looking at seemingly mundane moments in life and framing those, like finding a lost dog and sitting with it on the porch,” Malzone says. “I also sing about dating someone and buying them a pair of lavender Chucks because I had a good time, but then they thought that meant we were going to get married, and I realized I just wanted to be friends. Basically, I discovered that many of them were looking at happenings in life, not romanticizing so much as just finding little moments and framing them.”
Recorded at Suburban Pro Studios with Matthew Sawicki, With Affection meshes shoegaze-like textures with bubblegum-pop sweetness. It opens with the soaring “Criminal Sound,” a love letter Malzone wrote for her accomplices. Racy and euphoric, it starts slowly before the drums and guitars pick up the tempo. The result is a slaphappy burst of pop that announces the arrival of a band whose maturation has come full circle.
“It’s definitely a love song for my bandmates, because my longest and most successful relationship is with the band,” she says.
Malzone’s sense of melody is apparent on two slower songs in a decidedly more romantic oeuvre, “Savory” and “North Star.” The former begins with a nifty bass solo that wraps around her voice before cascading into a guitar-and-drum throwdown. The latter opens with a quieter guitar solo before unfurling into a dose of gushy love pop.
The rest of the album’s 10 songs further showcase MCF’s considerable range. More infectious grooves are found on the rocky giddyup of “Violet,” a track elevated by Basler’s drumming, which alternates from strafing to thumping rhythms. Boppy harmonies and searing guitars round it out, making the track a stomper.
A love song for introverts, “Say Hello” enters piano-pop terrain as it meshes melancholy with catchy backing vocals and a sly nod to Malzone’s favorite film, Boogie Nights. More Dresden Dolls than Manilow, the keyboards work overtime here to underpin the song.
That track is mirrored in aesthetics by “Pretty,” a sugary confection, and the deliriously giddy “Rom Com,” a number that again finds Basler banging away on the drums. Malzone’s vocals, which sound reminiscent of Regina Spektor, are awash in a flurry of bass and guitars that drive things home with spiraling layers.
Described by Malzone as “a magical spell to keep you safe,” another standout track, “Jellyfish,” offers rhythmical sleekness in a soft candy shell.
Housing a collection of well-crafted songs, With Affection finds MCF as a more refined, mature, and cohesive unit. Malzone says the group came upon its evolution honestly.
“MCF is definitely evolving,” she says. “We started with piano-pop, and then we kind of had our synth era, and then it was more guitar rock. But it’s never really me saying, ‘Hey, let’s do this new thing.’ It’s just that we start finding ourselves more drawn to a certain style. It all happens very naturally.”
Middle Class Fashion will celebrate With Affection at the band’s record release show on January 31 at 8 p.m. at Off Broadway. Opening the show are St. Louis act Everevereverever and Kansas City’s Monster Planet. All pre-ordered tickets come with a limited edition tote bag. For tickets, visit offbroadwaystl.com.
