Labels: Merge
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Not entirely sure where this came from, but I hope it’s an indication that Superchunk intend to write a new full length. What strikes you most about the songs on here is that the ‘Chunk have come back with a vengeance. It is startling, this is as energy packed and driving as anything they’ve done in, what, 15 years? As surprises go, it ranks right up there with Dinosaur Jr making an album as stupidly good as Beyond. “Learn to Surf” hurtles headlong out of the gate and blows away the cobwebs that must have built up whilst Mac dawdled away pleasantly in Portastic. “Misfits & Mistakes” is the song they contributed to a 7″ in 2007, and it remains a good track with a killer chorus, whilst “Screw It Up” sees Superchunk return to their summery, slack, later 90s sound. They even get around to one of their silly guitar solos by the end.
There are 4 tracks plus an acoustic version of “Learn to Surf”, and whilst there isn’t too much to be gotten from this EP that you couldn’t equally acquire from anything they made in the early to mid 90s, there is much nostalgia to be gained from hearing these verging on middle aged indie rockers belting things out again. Almost as much fun to listen to as it was to make, I suspect. This should have been a 10″.