Full disclosure: The first time I visited Feral Conservatives’ Bandcamp page, and saw that the “band” is a little girl with an electric mandolin and a badass-looking guy on drums, I thought “Oh god this is gonna suck.” I anticipated some sort of lo-fi noise rock that was more screech-n-feedback than music.

That was before I listened to Breaks and Mends, the band’s first LP, released in 2012 and reviewed here last year. Not only did the album Not Suck, it was Fantastic. Drummer Matt Francis contributes guitar and keyboards. Rashie Rosenfarb, the little girl with the mandolin, adds bass and keyboards and has a major voice. She can whisper sweet nothings on one track, then give you a proper ass-thrashing on the next. Together, Feral Conservatives created a highly listenable and engaging vista of rock, pop, folk and, yes, a little noise here and there.

Our Feral Friends have been back in the studio, recording new tracks produced and engineered by Mae bassist Mark Padgett. The first songs, “Wait For Me,” and “Complacent” have been released under the title A D.

“Wait For Me” begins softly, with a wistful mandolin figure behind Rashie’s equally wistful voice. Then, borne along by Matt’s drums, the song builds to an emotionally powerful wall of rock.

First impressions: “Wait For Me” represents a major advance beyond Breaks and Mends. The songwriting, arranging, and musicianship have matured and improved more than I would have expected. They accomplished a lot more in 2013 than I did, that’s for sure. But the true revelation here is Rashie’s voice. She is capturing an even broader range of nuances and dynamics than she displayed on Breaks and Mends, changing tone and inflection line-by-line. I am no longer thinking “God this is gonna suck.” I am thinking “God how can anyone this amazingly talented be practically unknown?” This is the best singer you have never heard of. Pardon the stranded preposition.

“Complacent,” featured in the band’s new video, comes across as a straight-ahead rocker. But the tempo shifts, key changes, and lengthy bridge highlight the track’s Intelligent Design.

Feral Conservatives have been touring steadily this year, playing dates on the East Coast from New York to Norfolk. We were lucky to “catch up” with Matt and Rashie, via the internet, for an email interview. You will notice that they write a lot better than I do.

Reverb: “Wait For Me” sounds completely different from anything on Breaks and Mends. Was this a conscious turn, or just a natural evolution?

Rashie: I think the fact that the songs sounding different from anything we’ve done before is a completely natural occurrence. We’ve been writing a lot since Breaks and Mends and the new songs have really shaped who we are as a band and the sound we are going for.

Matt: Playing more shows, and our energy live and almost using the mandolin as this pedaled-out garage rock component — partially to add weight to it as the single rhythm instrument in that setting — sort of naturally dictated that turn. I love that about our mandolin sound; it can capture the jangle of its natural timbre, or we can crank it up and match the personality of an electric guitar when we need that power.

Of course, we do have acoustic and slower moments on the new album. I’m also pressing Rashie for another piano ballad!

Reverb: I’m completely blown away by Rashie’s singing. Her mastery of dynamics has improved since Breaks and Mends. There just seems to be a greater range and depth of emotion present. Was it always there, just waiting for the right song to bring it out?

Rashie: I feel like my singing has gotten stronger as time has gone by. I’ve worked hard on playing around with tones, figuring out how to control my voice to its advantage and just practicing every day. When I record a song I try to really feel the emotion behind the lyrics and feed off of that to produce the passion within the song. It’s something I’ll always be working on of course.

Reverb: Corny interviewer’s question: Who are your main influences?

Rashie: I have been influenced by a few 90’s female singers such as Tanya Donelly, lead sing of Belly, Dolores O’Riordan, lead singer of The Cranberries, and Harriet Wheeler, lead singer of The Sundays. I love how they use their beautiful voices to sing over these more darker sounding songs and go from soft and airy to aggressive within a song. I am also influenced by Joni Mitchell in her album Blue and I love what Imogen Heap can do with her voice. She adds so much to her music in background vocals and using her voice to fill out a song in different sounds and harmonies.

And I have to say Paul Westerberg is one of my biggest influences in how he sings his songs. There is so much emotion behind his voice. He has a way of just capturing the mood behind a song and how he felt during the moment of whatever it is he is singing about.

Reverb: I understand you two are engaged. Will we be hearing some sappy love songs on the album?

Rashie: Well, I did actually write one kind of quirky love song a little before we got engaged, but we’ll see if it makes the cut or not. We’re both very happy together but our best written songs seem to come from more of a sadder side of things for some reason. And as a band I think we both gravitate towards that side of song writing.

Matt: The first song we release as a band since the announcement: “How is love supposed to feel?” Ha ha.

Reverb: Tell us about working with Mark Padgett…

Rashie: Mark is such an easy guy to work with and a positive energy in the studio. He always listens to any idea you may have and gives you the chance to try it out and see where it may go, but he’ll also give out good advice on his own. He has a really great ear for tone and I think that was something we really needed in an engineer. He was able to bring out the best in us. We’re looking forward to working with him again.

Matt: That’s the nice thing about working as a duo: if you find the right engineer, it’s sort of the final collaborative piece and you can rely on a two/thirds voting system. Things were fairly relaxed, and I felt like we all got a quick feel for our individual sonic preferences and how to reel people in as needed. I say that because I was the one needing to be reeled in; I would’ve ran everything through a fuzz pedal if I could’ve. There was a lot of “Okay, Matt…” but that push and pull is always interesting to me and I think it shakes us all up a bit. I could add little noisy, garage elements where Mark wouldn’t be inclined to include them — sort of that textural grit — and he in turn makes us sound good so people can listen to us without all my lo-fi-credibility indulgences.

Reverb: When can we expect the completed album?

Rashie: We’re not sure about when the next album will be finished. We’re looking at recording two more songs soon and releasing them together like we did with A D and then recording the rest later this year, at some point and putting all the songs together as the next album. We’re hoping to release it towards the end of the year.

Reverb: Will the album be named A D?

Matt: We just called the single A D, for no real reason, other than it sounded epic, like a new beginning, like this is when FC’s started. And really it is just a chord progression “Wait For Me” and “Complacent” coincidentally shared, so it’s kind of just a joke between us.

Reverb: You’ve played a lot of clubs in the last year. How has the reception been? What do people think when a little blond girl with an electric mandolin steps out?

Rashie: People’s responses have been very positive and we’ve made some connections with people along the way. I’m not sure what people think when they see me with my mando on stage. A lot of people say, “Hey, that’s a cool little tiny guitar you’ve got there.” I tend to be more of a reserved person when I’m not performing on stage and I think that comes out when it comes to actually doing any banter into the mic. Matt says I come off as “too cute.” But then I’ll turn around and scream and jump around during a song.

Reverb: To what extent is your faith reflected in your music?

Rashie: There is definitely an underlined tone in some of our songs that has to do with our faith. We actually have a couple new songs that may be on the next album about it. Most of what we write about on that subject is our struggle with who God is or if He even exists or listens to us. I think a lot of it is a frustration or struggle with faith and negative experiences with people through are lives that have hurt that side in us.

Matt: Going back to the engagement question as well — contentment (or being “Complacent” – ha!) doesn’t grab me like its opposite. A lot of my writing tends to come from that point of being disenfranchised, setting up the underdog, the good fight, fight for change. With any faith, or any sort of framework for universal order short of Nhilism, it’s easy to feel like you’re getting the short end of the stick. That’s compelling to me — all theologies have to cross the same hurdles of human evil and a corrupt world. It’s also interesting how conservative Christianity is the institution we were raised in, so there’s that natural component of cranking up the amps and kicking against the institution, the Man, while finding your own way within it — simultaneously being nurtured within that community and burned by your own expectations versus life’s realities. It’s the same questions man has faced for centuries — is that interesting? Or terribly boring/inept as artistry? How we pit our twenty-something years of experience — that’s arrogance — against a thousand years of tradition… it’s the journey we’re on. I know that much.

Thank you, Feral Conservatives! Those were great answers. This blog is a lot easier to create when the subjects write it for you!

More tracks by Feral Conservatives are available on Bandcamp.  And join Feral Conservatives on their website, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

BONUS TRACK: “Captivated” the beautiful piano ballad from Breaks and Mends.