Just Fern Live Show Review and Video

Article by Emma Cave
Filmed by Arthur Mueller and Ben Hoover
Audio by Evan Lawrence
This review is brought to you by

Let’s be honest, the weather in Pittsburgh sucks. One day the sun is shining, and a t-shirt feels perfectly acceptable, the next, its snow/sleeting and I live in constant fear of sudden death by black ice. These lingering days of northern winter have me, a Georgia native of ten years, dreaming of the late February heat that I’m so used enduring. But something has given me salvation amongst these moody winter days. Within the first few chords of Just Fern’s “Ember”, I can almost feel the sweet Georgia sun warming my bones. It reminds me of something I would listen to driving up to the Appalachian Trail, all the windows down in my friends unfortunate but somehow lovable station wagon, listening for the sounds of cicadas chorusing in the 80-degree heat. Singing along, “My heart is an ember, and you are the flame”, I wish I was back in my living room sitting in front of our high-power fan, the only antidote to the feeling of fire (or maybe sunburn) on my skin.

Within the first few chords of Just Fern’s “Ember”, I can almost feel the sweet Georgia sun warming my bones.

Through the thoughtful vocals of Fern in “Let’s Rob a Bank”, I find myself reflecting on the responsibility-free days of summer that came to a head when a friend and myself went drag racing in his car on the track around my high school’s football field. Not quite the level of bank robbery but peeling out of my schools parking lot at 2 a.m. didn’t feel that different to me. In case you couldn’t tell, I spent most of the spring/summer months in a car, floating from one place to the next, exploring what I could in the boring suburb of my teenage-hood, and the most important thing to complement my hours of driving was a good soundtrack. Just Fern provides, well, just that, with feel-good tunes reminiscent of the Beach Boys, but also lending lyrical content that prompts introspective thoughts and meaningful conversation with other car members. While Punxsutawney Phil may have cursed us with six more weeks of winter, Just Fern’s euphonic reations gives me the hope that warm cloudless days aren’t so far away.

You can tune in for WPTS Live Show every Wednesday night at 9:00 on www.wptsradio.org, RadioFX, or 92.1FM Pittsburgh. This weeks Live Show will feature “Brazilian Wax”