Labels: Sub Pop
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Coo! This doesn’t happen very often. A band I like has put out it’s *third* album. Normally they disappear after one or two, or they haven’t even got that far yet.
If for some reason you haven’t heard Sunny Day Real Estate then maybe the fact that a couple of their members went off to join the Foo Fighters will help. On their first two albums, SDRE had a definite Seattle sound about them. Lots of heavy guitars muddled up with some slower bits and Jeremy Enigk’s slightly whiny vocals. But things have changed, which is fortunate, as a band can’t stay the same for 3 albums straight, not if they want to have an credibility at all. For now, instead of taking so much influence from Nirvana et al, SDRE have gone more retro, and for a reference point I would suggest the Beatles with emo guitars. They even have a Doors-y organ type thing on one song.
Yes, the band has matured. So often that would be sentence you wouldn’t want to read, bands that mature can suck big time. Luckily SDRE’s maturation has seen them produce 10 songs of such quality music that I would pin down as complex, slightly acoustic sounding, slow indie rock with emo overtones. Their sound has developed and they are making songs that they probably wouldn’t have considered before. Enigk is more versatile vocally, reaching some pretty high notes, then at times being more drifty, or more assertive. Certain moments he does extremely plausible Lennon impressions, just check out the beautiful “Two Promises”, or “100 Million”. They have some very relaxing songs on here, title track “How Does It Feel To Be Something On” being a case in point, with Enigk’s vocals coming across very lazily and melancholic.
In the vein of their last album, SDRE have chosen to remain pretty anonymous again. No sign of the band name on the cover. If you look under S in your decent record shop, it’s the one with the jaggedy red sun (I presume) on the front. Try it, you’ll like it.