This quartet of indie-kid throwbacks has it down. Although hailing from
Kalamazoo, Michigan, Moss Jaw may as well have formed in Portland, Oregon, or
Olympia, Washington, or somewhere else out there around the turn of the century.
Because they should be on Barsuk. For some reason, they’re on Already Dead.
(Not that that’s a bad thing, but this is my narrative, so hang with it.) But
really, in a closely adjacent parallel universe, they’re on Barsuk.
And what are the hallmarks of something like that? Tight,
well-envisioned arrangements, controlled playing, intricate melodies, emotive
vocals. The momentum is always forward, whether motorik or propulsive, the
songs collegiate. And where Moss Jaw ends, we begin, cloaked in the universal
angst of getting older and trying to figure it all out. Isn’t that the vibe
that good tunes tap into? For us smart ones, anyway.
Moss Jaw has it down.
But I’m getting older, and I’m not “the kids,” and there’s a modicum of
“figured out” to my outlook (insomuch as I’ve figured out that it’s almost
impossible to have anything figured out). Still, Moss Jaw serves as a hard kick
of nostalgia to my heartstrings, and if I can survive the coronary that’s bound
to have caused, I may just give this tape another spin.
--Ryan
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