Description
Supercrush are back to administer another dose of impossibly infectious guitar pop with their new EP, Melody Maker. The Seattle-based group–led by guitarist/vocalist Mark Palm along with bassist Phil Jones and drummer Allen Trainer–named their latest batch of songs after a simple student model electric guitar and a weekly rock mag of yesteryear. It’s a winking tribute to the rock n roll continuum that the band so lovingly embraces, but also a fitting nod to the band members themselves and the amount of genuine songcraft that goes into making music that sounds so effortlessly catchy.
Recorded during the same sessions as Supercrush’s 2020 debut album, SODO Pop, the five songs on Melody Maker are far from throwaway leftovers. Engineered by Jones and longtime collaborator Jackson Long and then mixed by Justin Pizzoferrato, the music on Melody Maker highlights Supercrush’s split personality: equal parts soft sentimentality and loud rock bravado. “When I started doing Supercrush it was a return to my earliest musical interests,” says Palm. “I got into catchy melodic stuff and grunge bands before I even got into punk and extreme music. There was a big alt rock thing happening in eastern Canada when I was growing up, with bands like Sloan and the Doughboys getting played on MuchMusic all the time, so I was exposed to all of that. In my mind any band that’s melodic and guitar-based is fair game to be an influence on Supercrush–from The Beatles, to My Bloody Valentine, to Boston.
The closing track, ‘Rewind’, especially demonstrates this different approach as it forgoes percussion altogether and utilizes mantra-like lyrical repetition and the juxtaposition of layers of chaotic noise, static, and feedback over a cyclical chord progression to bring this collection to it’s cathartic conclusion. Although, upon reaching that conclusion it’s likely that the listener will find themselves echoing the lyrical sentiment of the final song: “I just want to start again from the beginning.” Luckily, in this case starting again is as simple as flipping the record and dropping the needle.
While not a carbon copy of any one band or scene, the sounds of Supercrush will likely appeal to those with a taste for much of the “alternative” music of the early 1990’s, from both North America and the UK. From Brits Swervedriver and Teenage Fanclub, to American counterparts like Sugar and Smashing Pumpkins, and even often overlooked Canadians like The Doughboys and Sloan, the common denominator is meticulously crafted pop gems, something that Supercrush also strives to achieve. Ten blissful, hook-filled, syrupy-fuzz-pop anthems; so classically ’90s, yet so now.
