The Buddyrevelles: Don’t Quit

At first I was confused. After a seven year hiatus The Buddyrevelles only had 32 minutes of music to record? Hell, I own EPs longer than this. Then I got excited. Maybe this would be one of those white whales of music — the “oh sure its real short, but its almost perfect” albums. American Matador, their 2000 sophomore album showed promise in is gritty yet bright take on indie pop. I hoped the time off would give the band the chance to capitalize on their potential, but when I listened to the album it only left me more confused. The opening “Verril Luck” places the trio’s feats and foibles in stark contrast, three-and-a-half minutes of joy and frustration that ends up being a microcosm of the album as a whole. Dan Reinholdt and Scott Hoch are an eager rhythm section that abets guitarist Aaron Grant on Pacific Northwest inspired interplay. Like their heroes, the best of their instrumental flights of fancy hit the listener in the brain and the body simultaneously, a great balancing of dissonance and harmony, technique and passion. Indeed this Chicago by way of Wisconsin band sounds like Doug Martsch covering “1979” on the opener.