Labels: self released
Review by: Andy Malcolm
If you listen to emo, you may recall that rather spiffing Juvenescent Beat LP from a little while back. And then that Juvie B never made any more records. Sparse has two dudes from JB, and they don’t pick up where that band left off. They pick up with their own damn thing. And boy do they, with opening track “Suicide Pact” which is a super killer slice of indie punk that rocks and rolls superbly. It’s like a cross between Archers of Loaf and the Hated, and the drifting, out of focus vocals really hit the mark. Love the drop out at the end of the song too. After such a good start mind you, the band never quite reach these highs again on this 7″, which is perhaps not totally surprising for a band’s first release. Not too many bands come up with 4 great tracks out of the gate. That said, the rest of this single is pretty damn cool too for the most part.
“Bullshit Summer” leans more on the slacker Archers vibe and bringing a bit of ugly grunge into the mix. I am fully getting behind “I can’t drink enough to get me through these days because the past few months have left me more sober than I ever wanted”. This is a pretty cracking tune too, mosh your lank greasy hair hard to this, my friends. Over on the flip we get “Mason-Dixon” which ups the pace, pelting along supremely. And we wind up on “Timelines” which stretches their (no doubt unavoidable) lo-fi aesthetics further into a distorted, muddy chugger that has grown on me substantially since first listen. Really into the “couldn’t care less” vocals on this too. A few beers in and I would be getting into this enthusiastically in the live setting.
I also am super into the outsized packaging in a manilla envelope. So 90s. Anyways, this is what indie rock is supposed to sound like, and I look forward to whatever Sparse can muddle together next.