Are you feeling like an ass, hazed over from bad booze, bad food, maybe
a bit too many games of Trivial Pursuit with your wacky family? Arklight is
here to help, because once you crack your eyelids at the morning sunbeams, you
only have about six minutes or so to listen to music before you have go back to
sleep. Just enough time to hit play, take a leak, grab a handful of Advil, chug
a huge glass of water (for rehydration), and hit stop again. You don’t want
anything you need to think too hard about, you just want that old, fuzzy Yo La
Tengo vibe, like the one on that 7-inch where they cover the Velvets. Or early
Dump, or something. It’s all good, all four-tracky, all hazy. No harsh tones or
crazy rhythms.
Side A, “Calling Them Out,” allows you to muster enough energy to move.
It’s fever pop. Speaking of fever pop, side B is called “Fevered Dream,” which
is what you were having before you woke up, and are about to have again. The
music mirrors the mood perfectly – it’s like Arklight is in the room with you,
but off in the corner, not playing too loudly, because they worry about your
well-being. They’re not even interested in properly packaging this single, they
just want you to have it immediately, they care about you that much. Plus, it
smacks of effort to put the thing together anyway. So no case, no j-card, just
a cassette wrapped it in paper, text scribbled in Sharpie, and stapled tight
enough so that the tape doesn’t fall out. Ta-daa! Home run, as the Kerchow!
cats say. And a home run for everybody. For Arklight, a grand salami, walk-off,
back to bed, yank covers, snore.
--Ryan Masteller
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