I had quite a journey listening to this album. I admit I had to go through it about four times before anything really stuck in my head. By the fourth time through, though, I felt like I’d known the songs forever. It was a strange experience; maybe it’s because of the mumbly garage alt rock sound, where the lyrics are mere hints rather than understandable words, with the vocals mixed so far back it’s hard to tell if they’re intentional at all, but something about this album wormed its way into my head like a worm might do to the heart-apple on its cover.

I’m no sound engineer, but to me the recording equipment is overpowered by the actual energy of these songs. To put it another way, I felt a very mellow, fuzzy energy from this album’s mixing - but at the same time, I fully believe a live show comprised of the same songs would be LIT. There’s clearly so much power in the songs, but it’s like the producers decided to turn up the fuzz and turn down every other slider until these well-written and nuanced songs almost turned into static. In songs like “Drivin’ On 9” this fuzz adds to the song’s intended effect, the vocals fading in and out like an old school microphone. But the bigger-bones songs almost overshadow themselves (lol yes I know how pretentious that sounds lol. “It insists upon itself” as the memes would say). I found myself trying to “squint” with my ears to see the full picture through the haze.

But the songs are plain awesome. When they’re imperfect it’s in a very human and endearing way, with ebbing and flowing energy throughout the album that keeps you hooked. There are a lot of distinct varied songs in 39 minutes, and they grow on you more with every repeat listen.

Jams

“New Year”
“Cannonball”
“Flipside”
“Drivin’ On 9”

From the roundup Jamwise #43 - Best Albums of 1993, pt. 2.