Customer Reviews

Let It Rest

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I recall Sorry About Dresden's bassist describing "Let It Rest" like this: If their first album was "Star Wars," and their second was "The Empire Strikes Back," this would be all the fight scenes in "Return of the Jedi," without the ewoks.

Well, forgive me for sounding like an enormous geek, but I'm going to run with this analogy. Because the more I think about it, the more fitting it seems. Why? Because while both are good, in the end, "The Empire Strikes Back" was superior to "Return of the Jedi." And the same applies to Sorry About Dresden's albums: "Let It Rest" packs more immediate, aggressive catchiness, but there's just infinitely more substance to its predecessor, "The Convenience of Indecision."

Honestly, I can't figure out what "Let It Rest" is lacking, but there's something about it that makes me find it relatively bland. There are still some great songs ("Sick and Sore" and "This House Unhomed" being my favorites), and of course it's a worthwile purchase for those who already like the band... But ultimately, "The Convenience of Indecision" still finds its way into my CD player much more often. If you've never heard Sorry About Dresden before, start there.

I heard "Sick and Sore" on the Saddle Creek 50 compilation, and it quickly grew on me- before long, I knew I had to purchase the whole album. Let it Rest is the pefect counterpoint to my huge library of Bright Eyes, Cursive, and other depressing Saddle Creek bands. Sorry About Dresden is a quick fix for brightening a dreary day, with great guitar interplay, vocal hooks, and fast rhythms. The only song I don't like is "Frozen in Mid-gesture," which drones on for a few minutes without any real point. But, the rest rocks me hard!

EDIT: This is a good place to start getting into Sorry About Dresden. Both The Mayor will Abdicate and The Convenience of Indecision, however, are stronger albums and certainly worth checking out as well.

Sorry About Dresden sound more like they belong in New York City art-punk scene with the likes of The Natural History, The Strokes, and The Blam, rather than on Saddle Creek with the likes of Cursive, Son Ambulance, and Bright Eyes. However, Sorry About Dresden singer Matt Oberst is the brother of Bright Eyes' mainman Connon Oberst, so that is why they were linked with Saddle Creek group. Due to the recent success of Bright Eyes, some people may buy (or not buy) this album expecting them to have a sound like Bright Eyes. There is no resemblance whatsoever.

Track 5, "Sick and Sore", is an excellent song and is easily one the year's best. The song gets better with every listen too. People always ask me "who sings this" whenever I play it. Everybody I know likes the song a lot. Also, the album gets better with each listen and remains solid all the way through to the end. In fact, aside from "Sick and Sore" the best tracks are towards the end of the CD.

In another review, junkmedia referred to the bands acronym as S.A.D. and called the music sad. Ironically, he writes for a company called JUNKmedia and that is exactly what he wrote-a bunch of junk. I am not sure if that person really listened to this record. They definitely do not sound anything at all like Superchunk. I do not like to be the one to critique somebody else's work, but the main reason I wrote this review was because I felt junkman was misinforming the public.

The moniker Sorry About Dresden smacks of a tasteless pretension that only becomes laughably worse when one discovers that those "in the know" call them S.A.D. Sad indeed. With a band name so calculated to provoke, it is downright depressing to find that the music they create deals in the most elementary of mathematics. Let It Rest poorly raids the tombs of every Chapel Hill band you did and didn't hear during the last 10 years, so you may just want to dust off those Superchunk and Archers albums instead of unwrapping this one.

There are perhaps only two songs of the dozen here that could be considered candidates for future listening. Opening track "Beds and Lawns" sports stinging guitar work that is sure to take suburban ghetto blasters back to the '80s. It's an enjoyable rock song that bristles over an undercoat of pop. The third track, "When You Cared," stops and starts with earnest vocals and chiming mid-tempo guitar. Revealing a sense of conviction that is noticeably absent from the other songs, this track can't help but stand out. And though that may be the case, what does that end up saying about the band and the rest of the songs here?

It is never a good sign when a band uses up its two best songs in the first three tracks. The album continues to decline from then on, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a chore to get through the whole thing. The fact of the matter is that songs like "Frozen in Mid-Gesture" and "Perfect Posture" would have been generic sounding indie rock in 1995. And that is something that even the band's Bright Eyed brother would be hard-pressed to dispute. I could go on, but I'll take the title as a simple plea and let it rest.

Barin McGrath
Junkmedia.org Review