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Brighter Days/The Mottled Beauty of a Spiteful Seed 2002 - Carmen Diablo Records - 7'' by JOHN WENZEL The A-side from this Tempe, Arizona-based outfit is a melancholy, mid-tempo loper that follows a mild drum beat, reverb-laden bass and country-tinged guitar line down a dark road. The true stars of this song, the haunting, multi-tracked vocals of Brock Ruggles, crest during the chorus with a criminally infectious, saccharine melody. "I know there will be brighter days/ but it only makes me sad. Cause if there were no brighter days/ I could put a bullet through my head/ and dream the dreams that you dream when you're dead." Comfort in depression? Inability to see subtlties? The character in the song leaves it up to the listener, remaining both steadfastly fatalistic and enticingly vague. In other words, if life sucked all the time, the choice would be so simple, so romantic. But since it doesn't... The B-side, "The Mottled Beauty of a Spiteful Seed," instrumentally approaches a sunburned Sonic Youth vibe while retaining the shaky vocal timbre and noise-laden ambience of the first track. Never having heard anything else by this band, I would still recommend checking out whatever you can from their extensive, expanding catalog. Excellent stuff.
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