By Danica Ward
Staff Writer
Sept. 19, 1995. Possibly one of the most important days in Superchunk’s 36-year history. The band dropped “Here’s Where the Strings Come In,” their fifth studio release, 30 years ago on this day.
The album boasts an 11-song tracklist, filled with absolute bangers, and one awesome music video to match. “Strings” sits comfortably in between two other Superchunk masterpieces: 1994’s breakup therapy album “Foolish,” and 1997’s new-age “Indoor Living.” This album perfectly showcases a period of time in Superchunk’s career where they were breaking out from their mold and transforming into indie legends.
One of the founding bands of the Chapel Hill, N.C. scene, Superchunk and their label Merge Records started early by self-releasing their music and that of their friends. But as they gained more traction and a new drummer, Jon Wurster, they quickly became underground giants.
“Here’s Where the Strings Come In” kicks down the metaphorical door with its first track, “Hyper Enough.” The song reflects on the aging process of the band and all the pressures that society has put on them to be the perfect supergroup. “Hyper Enough” is now a Superchunk setlist staple and is played at almost every one of their shows when on tour.
This track is also accompanied by a music video, where Superchunk’s members go to group therapy to work out their band disputes. By the end of the song, the band is wrecking the therapist’s office and hitting each other with pool noodles. The video is a joyous representation of how Superchunk has never conformed to rock norms, always staying fun and true to themselves.
Some other tracks worth noting off the album are “Iron On,” which contains one of my favorite lyrics of all time: “I hardly remember driving you home / Or was I driving you away?” as well as the hopeful anthem of “Detroit Has a Skyline” which has an awesome bass riff from Laura Ballance and a seething drum beat from Wurster. Another underrated addition is “Animated Airplanes over Germany,” which showcases Mac McCaughan’s transforming vocal abilities.
In addition to the strength and confidence that the band has gained through their career up until this point, “Strings” also highlights a transition period for the band where they are starting to experiment. McCaughan tries out singing in falsetto during “Yeah, It’s Beautiful Here too,” which becomes even more apparent on the band’s future records (especially “Indoor Living”) and hints of synth can be heard in the back of songs such as “Eastern Terminal.”
In addition, “Strings” varies in its tempo across the album. Although they start off strong with “Hyper Enough,” they subsequently slow down with “Silver Leaf and Snowy Tears,” as well as on tracks like “Sunshine State,” “Eastern Terminal,” and “Green Flowers, Blue Fish.” The band almost employs a Pixies-esque loud-quiet-loud strategy at certain points of the album, or even a quiet-loud-quiet.
Superchunk rounds out the album with two songs: the titular “Here’s Where the Strings Come In” and power closer “Certain Stars.” The former I would actually put at the end of the tracklist instead of the latter, but I digress.
“Strings” is perhaps a reflection on a past relationship, ending with the lyrics “But here’s where everything comes together / Either that or it all falls apart / Yeah, here’s where the strings come in.” Apathetic, maybe, but also weirdly comforting in a way.
Then there’s “Certain Stars.” Starting slow and ramping up to the verse, Wurster slams on the drums and keeps the beat going. But as the song carries on, the volume dies down and the song again repeats the titular phrase and mellows to a stop. Almost signifying a sense of finiteness, at least for a short period of time.
Also, for more interpretations of the lyrics to “Hyper Enough,” the band added a segment of a local North Carolina radio show to their EP “The Laughter Guns,” harkening back to the supposedly confusing nature of the song. This was way before we had Genius or AZLyrics available on the internet. If you feel like listening to two idiots try to dissect the song for 42 minutes, while members of the band call into the show to throw them off track, check that out!
Overall, at least for a Superchunk superfan like me, it is easy to say that this album is a masterpiece. 30 years might seem far away in a time like this, but Superchunk still represents their past youth by continuing their legacy of playing these songs live.
