Faced with bleak job prospects, corrupted politics and a planet in existential crisis, it’s no wonder young indie rockers are currently given to both moping and 90s nostalgia. Joining the likes of Snail Mail and Soccer Mommy at a bedroom shrine to Pavement, Weezer and Teenage Fanclub are this young slacker-indie outfit fromWisconsin who, you suspect, have been asked to tidy away a few socks in their time.
Brilliant opener Daily Routine lurches through time changes like someone trying to rouse themselves for their boring grind, and when they do, they hit a seam of Beach Boys sweetness amid the power chords. Parquet Courts are another clear touchstone (even if Disq don’t quite have their sophistication) on garage-punk tracks such as I’m Really Trying, but they have admirable range for a group who are only just into their 20s. I Wanna Die rides an Iron Man-style cock-rock riff, but just before it, Trash recalls a delicate Elliott Smith ballad (producer Rob Schnapf helmed Smith’s classic LPs).
The group’s age is laid bare on the album’s highlight, Loneliness, full of beautifully bruised naivety, and on the charming D19, a heartfelt love song to a brand of microphone. “Plugged in, something’s wrong / then I heard your bass response was gone” doesn’t seem to be a metaphor for a failed sexual encounter but a genuine lament for a bit of broken kit. With songs as good as these, there’s no need to grow up and stop slacking off.
