The ramshackle ruckus of the opener, ‘DananananaFreud’ – concievably a reference or tribute of sorts to one-time touring buddies Dananananaykroyd – is something of a wrong-footer, in that isn’t not really representative of the album as a whole, which very much evokes the 90s alterntive rok vibe. Case in point: ‘If You’re Driving’ draws together the guitar sound of Dinosaur Jr with the songwriting of The Pixies and the melodic hooks of Weezer to create what could reasonably be described as a grunge-pop classic.
The slightly whiny, vaguely nasal vocals on ‘Rooting for the Underdog’ should by right annoy, but instead, they strike a chord in the way they hark back to the brief point in the early 90s when US guitar music exploded, and wasn’t just all the rage, but seemed to signify a cultural and musical revolution. In keeping with this, the choppy hopped-up college rock of ‘Convenient Excuses’ is part Sebadoh, part Truman’s Water, and there’s even a hint of Michael Stipe in Andy Halliday’s vocal delivery on the bittersweet ‘Dreams That Never Fade Away’.
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Of course, it’s not always easy to explain exactly why certain music affects us. Describing ‘Bite Your Tongue’ and drawing comparisons only goes so far. The bottom line is that ‘Bite Your Tongue’ is a cracking album.
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