Twang! And we’re off. A peculiar folio of noises slowly evolving into as songs, though the slacker Gen X vibe carries things pretty well here. Now and again it throws up some great mopes, like ‘Case Ascertained’ which has something of MBV’s godlike can’t bearsedness about it. The second track ‘ASC F9’ sounds like Bob Pollard’s locked in a shed and has given up hope of ever getting out. Now and again things sound like the Fat Whites at their most cherubic. Check ‘Lonesome’ Town for that. Listening to ‘Song from 2014’ makes you realize that O-Town hasn’t sounded this bleak or emotionally bare since the local council cut all the mature trees down and surreptitiously sold them to local contractors for the snout, and enabling the 5G hegemony of our New Cyber Overlords.

released April 10, 2020