my power pop addiction, no. 132 (204)

The Posies have their moments even if they occasionally absorb the grungy tenor of their hometown. Today's song is a perfect example. I love the fulsome guitars, the harmonies, and the underlying melody, but its sound also has a weighted-down and resigned quality that I find a little off putting. It's definitely not a song I need to hear more than once every six months or so at most. A lot of music from the 90s has that same feel of resignation. Maybe it comes from a growing and generalized recognition of the exhaustion of the possibility of innovation. The era of simulation had already been in full swing for several decades, but for a time simulation itself could paradoxically be packaged and presented as something unique and different. Trying to sound like the Beatles - call it Beatles Revivalism or British Invasion Revivalism - was something new in the early 70s. But trying to sound like the Beatles 25 years later is another thing altogether, a rehashing of a rehashing of Beatles revivalism. So maybe the feel of resignation in some of the music is really an expression of artistic frustration with not being able to do something that hasn't already been heard over and over again. All of this is a long winded way of saying that I like today's song even though it seems to express a certain exhaustion and unfulfillment...