NeverEndSerenading!

 When I was a boy I saw things

That no one else could see

So why am I so blind at twenty-two

To the hope that is all around me

Filling up this room
("&serenading")

If I could pick one record to describe what the Midwest-/Indie-Emo of the 90s sounded like, it'd be this one. Without a doubt.

Maybe it wasn't as important or influential as "Diary" or "Clarity" or "Something to write Home about". Most definitely it wasn't as pioneering as "Diary", or CAP'N JAZZ' material or the two SPLIT LIP-albums, or as iconic as AMERICAN FOOTBALL's "LP1". Heck, it even isn't as iconic as its predecessor "The Power of Failing". Coming out at the tail end of the 90s, "EndSerenading" was in the middle of the Indie/Emo-boom, and not at the forefront. A lot of other bands did something similar before or at the same time or years after. A lot of records came out, some of them gained classic-status, others vanished in obscurity. But was any of those records as pure as "EndSereanding"?

This record is the essence of this sound and more important, the essence of this special kind of feeling. It's a record that lulls you in from the first strokes of "LoveLetterTypewriter" to the fading out of "TheLastWordIsRejoice", 47 minutes later. It's that kind of album you put on when you're feeling lonely and melancholic, on a rainy and foggy November-day, looking outside the window, thinkin' about life and stuff. 

While SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE were "born" into this scene, with a multitude of influences, that clearly reflected on all their albums, JIMMY EAT WORLD or THE GET UP KIDS took the sound to mainstream-ish levels with hints to Pop-Punk. AMERICAN FOOTBALL then added math-y guitars (also found on other Kinsella-related projects). MINERAL on the other hand were as pure as possible for this kind of sound. It was like Indie-Rock with tons of emotion and loose structures and an airy, dreamy feeling on top of it. It's the definition of a record that succeeds on its sentiment rather than on catchy hooks or chorusses or tons of memorable parts. 

Curiously enough I never could get that much into MINERAL's more well-known and better rated (though it shifted in the last couple of years making it pretty much a "draw" between the two) debut album "The Power of Failing". That might be due to the reason that I basically discovered both of their LPs at the same time, thus I had no sentimental feelings for their debut. In direct comparison, "EndSerenading" shines in every aspect, it's more sophisticated, well-rounded and worked out, without loosing any charme. That's not to say that "The Power of Failing" is a bad record, it's just no all-time-classic for me.

For now, I'll refer to Taiyo from the band SOCCER., who wrote a beautiful piece about "EndSerenading" in "mEMOries" Part 28.

Thanks for writing this, Taiyo! This was the one record where I said to myself "If nobody will pick this album, I'll do it by myself!". Happy End. I suppose...