Superchunk: come pick me up

The band's experimentation appears immediately. The guitars have a little more tone and a little less fuzz—power has subtly given way to pep as the music's driving force. "Hello Hawk," Pick Me Up's first single, typifies this new sound. At the point when McCaughan or Jack McCook normally embarks on a minute-long, masturbatory ax solo, the band's man-in-the-booth, Jim O'Rourke, instead underlines their guitars with violins. Moves like that restrain their sound without stifling its creativity, and bring a degree of control to rapid-fire, full-tilt rock songs.

Not too much, though. Superchunk still has an affinity for that rock 'n' roll sound on which they've built their reputation. On "Cursed Mirror" and "Good Dreams," arguably the album's two best cuts, the quartet rushes through haunting power pop anthems à la Here's Where the Strings Come In.

When things get too calm and produced, Pick Me Up's few faults appear. "Smarter Hearts," the closest thing to a slowed-down tear-jerker that the record has to offer, is nothing more than a forced ballad—a poor man's "Driveway to Driveway." And when horns completely replace guitars on "Pink Clouds," it sounds utterly ridiculous.

While the new sound keeps listeners from getting lost amidst screeches and feedback, the old sound's lingering presence still allows Superchunk their freedom to wander aimlessly. And because the album achieves splendid diversity, hearing McCaughan croon such traditional Chunkian lines as "The mirror is cursed/for what's reflected/so they disconnect it/so you disconnect it" has never sounded sweeter. Unlike so many other bands that have tried to walk the same line, Superchunk revamps its sound with both class and authenticity. Come Pick Me Up makes you cherish what they've done and admire where they're going. Haul out your old albums and trace, with awe, the evolution of a great rock band. (Merge)

—Thomas Kane

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