Album:"How It Feels To Be Something On..."
Artist: Sunny Day Real Estate
Label: Subpop Records
In Sunny Day's third effort, they scored tremendously with "How It Feels...".
After thier second album "LP2"(which was composed heavily with B-Sides
and
Unreleased tracks from "Diary"), they needed an album with a theme
and flow
to it to compenstate. They came up with exactly that, and more. From the
opening track "Pillars", it establishes an eeiry, medium speed feel
to it.
Then, they ease into the middle-eastern key riffs of "Roses In Water".
As
the album progresses Sunny Day stick to their patended tightly drummed,
overdriven guitar, emotional falsetto vocal brand of emo. Songs like the
beatlesesque "Two Promises", the well sung "100 Million",
and the swingingly
felt "How It Feels To Be Something On" grace the middle of the album
with
their presence. Towards the end, Sunny Day manages to get even more
gutt-wrenching in the way they bring across the tunes. "The Prophet"
starts
out the end of the record in epic proportions, streaming through the spiritual
side of Jeremy Enigk's lyrics. They move on slowly into "Guitar&
Video Games"
which tells of a look back into a couples past. After a testatment of wasted
youth, in "The Shark's Own Private F*ck", they move on to the pensive
"Days Were Golden". The album fittingly closes out with a gently
brushed
drum track that fades out leaving the listener satisfied, and yet wanting
to
hear more. Throughout the album, Sunny Day maintains a solid feel and
overall sense of haunting to the record, due largely in part to Dan Hoerner's
tasteful guitar phrases and Jeremy Enigk's incredible vocals. Most of All,
SDRE makes thier point that they will not sell-out to the industry, but
instead play the music that they feel best suits them.
Mike Wiegand