Review Summary: The lollapalooza-day-2-afternoon indie hit that never was.
Flake Music (or The Shins, as they'd later go on to be known), by 1997 were fairly established in the Albuquerque indie scene (mainly because they were one of the few artists from New Mexico that actually mattered). Having released 2 Singles (Mieke and Sue Defender / Kreflo / Dawn Patrol under the name Flake), 2 Splits (All This Time for Nothing / Deluca with Henry's Dress and Scared of Chaka / Flake Music with Scared of Chaka) and 1 EP (Spork), the band had been playing and writing music for 5 years before going into the studio to record their first and only full length, When you land here, it's time to return.
Released in 1997, under the Omnibus Records label, the sound of this album is a lot more different than what you'd expect if you're coming in from The Shins' discography. Where The Shins are indie-pop/folk-pop, Flake fall more into the slacker rock side of the fence. The "oo's" of New Slang / Sphagnum Esplanade, or the soft organs of "Caring Is Creepy" are nowhere to be found, this is guitar rock from beginning to end.
The easiest comparison to make would be Built to Spill or Modest Mouse, this is late 90s indie rock after all (most bands of that time borrowed from those acts); but dismissing the album as just another group of kids trying to make the next Slanted and Enchanted is incredibly unfair to the pure innocence and passion that oozes from this project.
I'd like to make note that for the rest of this review I'll be speaking in reference to the original 1997 version of this album, NOT the 2014 rework. I find the 2014 rework to be incredibly bland and over-produced. If you're thinking of giving this release a try, do yourself a favor and listen to the original mix.
Now that that's out of the way, lets move on.
The songs on WYLHITTR make sure to take their time, songs like "Blast Valve" or "Deluca" take long instrumental breaks between verses. Usually this would be a complaint but none of these instrumental breaks ruin the pacing of any of the songs here, they simply play the role of expanding upon each track's sounds and creating space for the guitars to play around with.
Between each couple of songs you have interlude-like tracks- the first of which being "Roziere", a 1 and a half minute long mellow, summer-of-love-esque slowburner instrumental, and the last being "Untitled #3" (AKA Faded Polaroids), an extremely lo-fi, demo-like James Mercer solo track with only a guitar and barely audible lyrics. Despite the roughness and underproduction of these tracks, they serve a great purpose when it comes to slowing things down between tracks and bring different sounds to the album.
Tracks like "Mieke", "Structo" and "Blast Valve" take a more relaxed approach in their pacing, using slower tempos, and being more delicate and tranquil in sound, whilst other tracks like opener "Spanway Hits", "Deluca" and the not-subtly named "The Shins" are a lot more energetic, sounding nothing like most of their later work as The Shins.
The lyrics are usually very samey, touching on topics like romance ("Mieke" being named after someone Mercer knows, although I'm not sure if its his significant other or anything), growing up, nostalgia and just general young-adulthood angst. Although the topics being discussed in these songs are not too unique, Mercer does a great job at painting a picture through excellent wording, showcasing his knack for poetry that is all over The Shins' discography. Specific highlights are lines like "Wasting Time to pretend you've got the words to defend well every bias you've learned by being human" from Spanway Hits and "There's a trail that ends tonight within the walls of this living room" from Mieke, which leave you thinking "How the hell did he come up with this stuff?!". It's actually one of the few questions science still can't answer to this day.
It wouldn't be long after this release that Flake Music ceased to exist, reforming as The Shins (who of course would go on to be very successful) and moving on from their slacker rock inspirations into a sound akin of psychedelic-pop, leaving this album as a relic of Mercer and co's early days, which makes me sad. Despite the fact that I've mentioned The Shins in this review probably over 10 times, it pains me to see their 2000s output overshadow this charming project from a band with big dreams.
Nowadays most people see WYLHITTR as "The Shins trying to be like Built To Spill", but I'd be hard-pressed to find many similarities to The Shins and this project. Aside from Mercer's style of lyricism and voice, most of the defining aspects of The Shins' sound are not present. The guitars are a lot more complex, there are basically no organs or synths and in general its a more stripped down album by a band that stuck out like a sore thumb in their local scene that would go on to shape indie pop in the 2000s.
