Seam
The Problem With Me
»
Seam
The Problem With Me
Touch & Go, 1993
RiYL: Codeine, Versus, Red House Painters, Velocity Girl, Superchunk |
It's the latter that kick-starts Problem, as "Rafael" spins forward with Sooyoung Park's lovesick lyrics: "I turn out the lights when I'm thinking about you / I'm feeling guilty just for being afraid." The band's expert use of tension/release as a means toward sonic catharsis explodes in the song's midsection, encouraging big smiles and rapid heartbeats all around in a concise 2:30.
"Bunch," an ode to the wonders of getting high, pins its hopes on a distorted, ascending guitar melody that thickens as the song progresses. "Sweet Pea" is Problem's biggest tear-jerker and ranks as the most memorable song the band has ever written. A relentless rhythm and one of indie rock's saddest chord progressions penetrate the psyche and trigger the kind of soul-searching usually reserved for (yikes) break-ups and funerals. Park sings of running away and hiding: "Don't tell me you know / I know," he says under his breath.
And although the bulk of Problem resonates with this kind of depressing imagery, Seam plays it like pros. "Road To Madrid" imagines the dour Codeine on ecstasy, offering a simple, slow melody that overflows into a faster, layered-guitar outtro. "Stage 2000" is divided between sweet verses and dark, half-time choruses wherein Park aches, "take me someplace I've never been to / show me something I haven't seen."
The mood lightens a bit on "Something's Burning," nodding to the hook-laden songs of Versus or Superchunk with its jangly bridge and tom-heavy drumming. The band makes fine use of open space on "The Wild Cat," yielding to a pretty breakdown reminiscent of early Velocity Girl. Closer "Autopilot" runs Park's vocals through distortion while a lone riff repeats quietly in the background, serving as a comforting counterpoint to the heavier tracks that have come before.
Seam conveys emotion better than almost any other band of its ilk, and nowhere more effectively than on The Problem With Me. Highly recommended to lovelorn souls of universe.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"