By Fen Hsaio
Arizona Daily Wildcat
I love this band! Although I've received much ridicule and will continue to be shunned because of my love for this indie rock band, every one of their albums and side projects just makes me appreciate them more.
Since Superchunk released their self-titled first album, followed by the flawless No Pocket For Kitty, they've slowly changed their sound from fast and catchy to prettier and more melodic, but still with the same chunky guitars they're known for.
Most people's complaint with Superchunk isn't that they're bad, but that they haven't done anything new or haven't taken their sound anywhere. But if there's nothing wrong to begin with, then why fix it?
In Superchunk's new album, Here's Where the Strings Come In, it's the songs that stay true to Superchunk's sound that are the best tracks. The first song, "Hyper Enough," which I hear is the first single/hit song off the album, was so good I played it four times before going on to the rest of the album. Reminiscent of old Superchunk, it's catchy riffs and Mac's tense vocals made me glad my roommate wasn't home so I could jump up and down every time I played it.
However, the new album does have a couple of songs where it seems Superchunk strayed from their traditional sound, producing such annoying songs as "Green Flowers, Blue Fish" which besides being a little drab and slow, irritatingly has a repeated few seconds where the song stops and there's just some widely spaced guitar notes.
I also admit I couldn't bring myself to listen to "Silverleaf and Snowy Tears," because the name of the song is just so awful.
But good tracks, charged with energy and guitar lovin' like "Detroit Has a Skyline" and "Sunshine State" far outweigh the couple of duds on this album, and though I sometimes argue it, not even Superchunk is perfect.