9 years ago, back on the old site, we did start a series called mEMOries. It was all about asking new Emo-bands or other scene affiliates about their all time favourite (Midwest-)Emo-record. It was about nostalgia. And it was about connecting the new with the old. I had big plans for this series, wanted to collect 20 parts and then release some sort of a sampler with an XL-booklet attached, that features all of the text pieces...
...after 7 parts the series was buried, when the end of borderline fuckup 1.0 was on the horizon. I'm still in love with the idea and tried my best to start a relaunch in 2021, but it mainly was a chore. However, I got back on track somehow, with a lot of support by some lovely people. Now, here's part 29 for your reading pleasure!
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// The author // c.h.point
Jacob R. West aka C.H.POINT splashed onto the scene with his project SUMMER 2000 and the album "John Krasinski" in early 2021. He then further cemented his status as one of the most important figures in all of Emo with his band ELDER JACK, releasing a great album and an even better EP last year. It doesn't stop there, however, as Jacob is not only known for his heartfelt music but also for the uniqe packagings of his releases. For "mEMOries" Part 29 he picked a record by SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE that he declares their "magnum opus"...
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// The record // Sunny Day Real Estate - How it feels to be something on
Release: 1998 // Label: Sub Pop
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Jacob on "How it feels to be something on" by Sunny Day Real Estate
I think we often take the ease of discovering music for granted these days. We live in an age where every click & cursor movement on our music streaming app of choice is silently training a machine learning algorithm to generate personalized playlists of music recommendations for us that refresh every week. With every Spotify update, it’s becoming harder and harder to remember the time when music discovery was a self-driven process rather than spoon-fed to us as a way to “increase platform engagement.”
At around the age of 13, I was living in the tail end of that self-driven era. iTunes was still a thing, Grooveshark was somehow allowed on the Internet, and Spotify was still a few years away from really breaking through into the limelight. I had spent the last few years being obsessed with the first band I ever really loved – My Chemical Romance – but I was at the point where I was hungry for new music to listen to & eager to expand my musical horizons.
Logically, Google seemed like a great place to start for me. At that age, I would imagine that I spoke to the Search Engine God with deep respect and used complete sentences with punctuation and everything. Maybe something along the lines of: “What bands should I listen to if I like My Chemical Romance?” Fortunately for me, the Search Engine God spaketh back with a long list of what I would assume were links to Yahoo! Answers of queries similar to the one I had written.
On one of these pages, I came across a recommendation for a band with a unique name: Sunny Day Real Estate. With a name that sounded like it could be the mom & pop realty firm a few blocks from the village square, I had to hear what they sounded like.
What did they sound like? Nothing I had ever heard before. Raw duetting guitar lines panned left & right, oscillating between heavy fuzz and clean tones, playing dark almost contrapuntal melodies in exotic scales and modes. Lyrics like melancholy poetry sung softly and then loudly and then softly along with the natural changes in tempo and intensity driven by intricate and interlocking patterns of the drums and bass guitar. In many ways, they sound like emo music at its purest.
Many fans consider Sunny Day’s iconic debut, Diary, to be their magnum opus. With popular classics like Seven, In Circles, and Song About An Angel, the musical talent and competence displayed on Diary is undeniable and heavily influential. As much as I adore Diary, though, I have always been drawn to the brilliance of Sunny Day’s 3rd 1998 studio album, “How It Feels To Be Something On.”
Lyrically, HIFTBSO feels more complete and cohesive than any other release by the band. Throughout the album we really get to hear fully-baked poetry from lead singer Jeremy Enigk, which is a real treat given how masterful he is with the pen. Enigk also pushes his voice far out of his comfort zone, innovating & diversifying his vocal techniques like he never had before, especially on songs like Two Promises and The Shark’s Own Private Fuck. The instrumentation helps to further this - along with frequent acoustic guitar we also get to hear some piano and even an organ.
However, I think where the album shines most is in its songwriting and production. Production-wise, the whole album takes a no-nonsense approach which ends up sounding extremely crisp. The drums are kept high in the mix just like any of the other melodic instruments, which absolutely slaps. Even during the albums fuzziest, crunchiest moments, you can still hear every one of bassist Jeff Palmer's intricate movements across the fretboard, every one of lead guitarist Dan Hoerner's guitar strings being strummed, every slight rasp of Enigk's voice. The songwriting displayed across the album, though, is the clear highlight of not only the LP but also of Sunny Day Real Estate’s entire discography. What I love most is the clear vast array of musical influences that you can hear throughout the album. Unlike Diary, “How It Feels To Be Something On” is not your typical emo album musically. Sure, there are strong roots in "2nd wave emo", but there are also moments that are grungy, moments of Eastern influence, moments that are near-orchestral. In other words, it is a “big” album - theatrical, dramatic, climactic - all until the very end. With that in mind, it makes sense that I feel the need to listen to HIFTBSO in its entirety in order to fully enjoy it, whereas I can usually listen to single songs from the rest of their discography and be left satisfied.
All in all, I credit that random stranger on Yahoo! Answers with turning me down a path that has literally led me straight to today. As a musician myself, I am extremely influenced by every aspect of Sunny Day Real Estate’s impeccable discography, but especially from their magnum opus, “How It Feels to Be Something On.”
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