Complicate The Simple Things You Do

Sebadoh “Love You Here”

There are very particular emotions and circumstances that I associate with Sebadoh – passive-aggression, sexual confusion, romantic confusion, excruciating unrequited love, humiliation. So it’s interesting to hear the band return and circle back to the general aesthetic of their Bakesale/Harmacy period and for Lou Barlow to be in a very different place in his life. Lou’s new songs are mainly about trying to keep a marriage alive, a topic that has both less and far greater stakes than his old material. “Love You Here” is basically a song about missing his family on the road, and there’s lots of those, but the core emotion isn’t sentimentality or lovesickness, but rather ambivalence and guilt. The song seems to swing on a pendulum but never settles – it’s just this steady fear of taking a risk that may sow the seeds of eventual disaster.

Buy it from Bandcamp.