REVIEW: Sebadoh, The Sebadoh (Sub Pop / Sire)
- Steve Kandell
In an interview with The Big Takeover around the time of Harmacy's 1996 release, Sebadoh's Lou Barlow lamented that he felt he was destined to become the next Paul Westerberg, which is not the compliment it used to be. By this, he meant that he felt himself making the ugly transition from fussy post-punk icon to cuddly easy listening drone. The please-play-me-on-the-radio sheen that marked that album's singles "Willing to Wait" and "Ocean," showed an eagerness to usher in that mainstream acceptance sooner rather than later. In his apologetic mission statement on the band's official website, Barlow now distances himself from that album and its bald-faced grab for the brass ring. Three years and one drummer later - newcomer Russ Pollard is actually the band's third, supplanting Bob Fay, who replaced founding member Eric Gaffney - Sebadoh has reemerged with the new, sort of eponymous The Sebadoh, an album of fifteen songs that neither break new ground nor hint at Billboard glory. And that, Barlow seems to be saying, is just fine.
For the better part of the 90's Barlow has ranked among the elite songwriters in rock. The odd thing is, he might not even be the best songwriter in his own band. Some of Sebadoh's most memorable songs have actually come from bassist Jason Loewenstein, a fact that often gets overlooked because his and Barlow's voices and styles tend to be pretty similar. It's easy to imagine the plaintive "Happily Divided" (from 1993's Bubble and Scrape) or "License to Confuse" (from 1994's Bakesale) coming from Barlow, but they don't. On the new album's "Decide" and "Bird in the Hand," Loewenstein actually sounds more like Mudhoney's Mark Arm than he does his own bandmate, and he continues to carve himself a reputation as being anything but Barlow's subordinate. Barlow might be the more high-profile member, even scoring an unlikely Top 40 hit with "Natural One" from the Kids soundtrack, but without Loewenstein's solid contributions, this album would be nothing more than a middling EP.
With the exception of Barlow's glossy ballad "Love is Stronger," The Sebadoh largely consists of mid-tempo rock tunes. Like Guided by Voices, Sebadoh has managed to successfully trade the gleefully low-fi hiss of their early four-track recordings for a big-studio sound without turning into The Smashing Pumpkins. Only Barlow's "Tree" sounds like it could have been recorded in a bedroom. "Sorry" sounds expressly written for Bob Fay, who was unceremoniously dismissed from the band after the last tour, and is thanked no less than eight times in the liner notes. But to paraphrase a band from a generation ago, the songwriting, pretty much all of which deals with some sort of relationship-fueled angst, remains the same. Love songs, nothing but love songs.
Ironically, the album's new wavey first single, "Flame," has more commercial potential than anything on the last album. Undeniably catchy pop that goes a long way with a four-note riff, it could wind up being the exact sort of crossover hit that the band claims to not care about having. Sebadoh's latest may not be the commercial breakthrough that 1996's Harmacy tried to but failed to become, nor may it boast the highs of their best album, Bakesale, but it does go a long way in establishing the band as more than a one-weapon arsenal.
