Cover of an Indian book from the University of Chicago's Regenstein Library, c. 1960
I'm so glad that Sloan popped up on the ol' Jukebox today, and I'll explain why in a minute. At first, I wasn't so excited because, like a lot of people, I wouldn't pick a song from the band's first album, Smeared, to showcase what Sloan is all about (and yes, I know that this song was originally on the band's debut EP, but I associate it with the album). Not that "Sugartune" is a terrible song - it's just that the band's early work is commonly and rightly seen as inferior, a band toying with big guitar sounds inspired by Sonic Youth and shoegaze instead of admitting that they are really just power-pop kids. And they turned out to be among the best purveyors of power-pop in the '90s, sadly occupying that weird void that Canadian guitar-pop bands used to sit in.
The thing about "Sugartune" is that it gives a great glimpse of what was to come - to a point. Being a song from a band with four distinct songwriters, this song can only predict the progression of Patrick Pentland, who wrote it. First, it features that double-tracked vocal sound that I think of as being Pentland's "signature" - on the chorus, a harmony vocal is added to the mix. The only real poseurish touch on the song is the wordless cooing after the first chorus - sounds like something from a Lush record. Oh, and the repetitive 1-4-5 guitar outro. But the ingratiating melody and not-quite-conventional structure are elements the would take center stage on all the Sloan records that followed (except for 2001-2003, a dark time that I won't discuss here).
Oh, and the reason that I'm glad this song popped up? I went to the band's website for the first time in ages and found out that they've finally released (digitally) a B-sides collection! Finally, songs like "D Is for Driver", "Same Old Flame", and "Step On It, Jean" are compiled in one place - Sloan is a band that has been sitting on some great non-album tracks, so this is very good news. I wonder why I didn't read about this release anywhere, when I saw plenty of promotion for their new EP.
"Sugartune" by Sloan
0 comments:
Post a Comment