Albums by this artist

Anahata (1999)

Four Great Points (1998)

Tropics And Meridians (1996)

June Of 44

Anahata

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» MARK T.R. DONOHUE | STAFF WRITER

June Of 44 Anahata Touch & Go, 1999 RiYL: Shellac, Rachel's, Tortoise, Ativin

The word carries serious negative baggage, but let's face it: June Of 44 were a supergroup. Guitarist Jeff Mueller was in the legendary Rodan, bassist Fred Erskine played in both Hoover and the CrownHate Ruin, guitarist Sean Meadows recorded with Lungfish, and drummer Doug Scharin was in Codeine and has an ongoing solo project, Him. That's a great lot of experience for four guys in one band.

Although Anahata was June Of 44's fourth and final full-length album, in many ways it was their breakthrough. The band's first three records had great moments, but in the end, they came across as a musicians' group, strong on compound tempos and meter shifts, weak on lyricism and songcraft. Anahata forces a reassessment. For the first time, printed lyrics are included with the album, and clearly more thought has been given to the vocal side of the band. Vocalists (Mueller, Erskine and Meadows all sing) are actually audible in the mix, and the singers actually sing as opposed to mumbling or shouting.

This shift, when added to June Of 44's already potent rumbling math-rock backdrop, makes for some strong music. On "Cardiac Atlas," Erskine and Scharin lay down a twitchy groove while Mueller and Meadows' call-and-response vocals paint a striking story of surgery gone wrong, reminiscent of the Velvet Underground's "Lady Godiva's Operation." The dub-like bass of "Recorded Syntax" provides an appropriate backdrop for evocative lyrics that speak of a "house without air" where "magazines, the daily post" go "unread...but understood."

Continuing an innovation forged on 1998's Four Great Points, many new instruments liven up the guitar-guitar-bass-drums mix. Scharin adds sproingy vibraphone to "Southeast Of Boston," while violinist Julie Liu gives "Cardiac Atlas" a refined air, and Erskine's fine trumpet playing spices up several tracks. The musicianship all the way through, as is usual for this band, is perfect, and the new focus on lyricism goes a long way to cure the old June Of 44's biggest flaw: repetitiveness.

Anahata represented a big breakthrough for a band already very highly regarded. Too bad it was their last.

MARK T.R. DONOHUE | Mark T.R. Donohue is a prolific freelance writer whose areas of expertise include Rockies baseball, video games, genre television, English soccer, and pub rock. He lives in Colorado, where he cultivates the largest and creepiest private collection of Alyson Hannigan memorabilia in the Mountain West.