How It Feels To Be Something On

In last week's New Yorker, the Goings On About Town section describes the band the Feelies like this: "The semi-legendary post-punk group the Feelies formed in Haledon, New Jersey, in 1976, and developed a unique sound based on intricate yet simple guitar rave-ups and yearning vocals that emphasize the ecstatic roots of rock and roll. Despite the catchy and influential sound (R.E.M., among other bands, has acknowledged a debt to the band's 1980 debut record, "Crazy Rhythms"), the Feelies, who disliked live performing, never found commercial success. In 2008, after a hiatus of 17 years, the group got back together, delighting legions of fans. The past few years have been more than a nostalgia trip, however: the group has been working on fresh material, and they have a catchy new release, "Here Before," which makes a strong argument for taking a long time between records."

What a perfect description for a band! On this alone, I bought "Crazy Rhythms" last week and have been thoroughly pleased. Their back story reminds me very much of my band (except that they're widely influential professionals). We both obsess over our songs for far too long and would rather play them for ourselves than for other people; we don't have much interest in promoting ourselves or commercial success; and we take a long time to develop. I also think that if we started a band in 1976, instead of 2006, we would sound very much like the Feelies: brooding and a bit off-kilter, but not disconcertingly so; lots of churning rhythm guitar; long instrumental passages where all of the instruments lock together so that each one matters -- but not too much; and lyrics that blend and are about a mood as much as they are a narrative.

The difference is the Feelies began in the aftermath of punk, so there's a jerking, unstable quality to their music. They take the energy of punk and try to smooth it, but also don't want it to be too docile, so the songs are full of all these hiccups. We started after many others proved you could write great sad and slower songs that take their time to reveal themselves, or maybe never quite do so. But if we'd started 30 years ago and hadn't yet been exposed to this, we probably would've tried to harness punk, which was then the counterculture, and turn it in to something new, just as the Feelies did.

Above is the song "Raised Eyebrows" from Crazy Rhythms. I couldn't find a good live version of it, so for now will stick with the music set to this photo. Thanks to Sunny Day Real Estate for the post's title.