Sweet Apple
Sing The Night In Sorrow
(Tee Pee Records)
At the center of Sweet Apple sits one J. Mascis, an old time rocker whose name has been attached to a long list of projects (most notably the formative act, Dinosaur Jr.) working with members of Central Ohio’s Cobra Verde and New England stoner/doom metal band, Witch. The scope of Sweet Apple broadens pretty quickly out from the immediate list of band member collaborators though, their catalog a scattered collection of 7” singles, comp tracks and a couple of well regarded records, all of it incorporating a host of indie-rockers, salty enough to have reached the twilight of their collective relevancy.
Their latest effort, Sing The Night In Sorrow follows the Sweet Apple formula started with 2010’s Love & Desperation. Mascis plays some drums, some guitar and sings on occasion, while the track list shows features by Doug Gillard, Rachel Haden and the inimitable front man of Guided By Voices, Robert Pollard. Described colorfully as a musical clubhouse, Mascis shows he still has a lot of fun working with his familiar sound, most notably on tracks like “You Don’t Belong To Me” featuring Gillard on lead. A tragically under appreciated guitar player and songwriter, Gillard fills this song with bright guitars, a whole hell of a lot of verve and enough creative, twinkling accents to make it feel like songwriting is a priority for Sweet Apple. The Gillard tracks, of which there are three, feel comfortably within the band’s scope and are the best on the record. “She Wants to Run” while a little fatigued rhythmically, offers some drive, and “Candles In The Sun” which is the longest, most ambitious track on the record, sprawls out to a broader scope, weaving in acoustics for a varied feeling.
Rachel Haden’s two features are a bit of a mixed bag too. “A Girl And A Gun” is a haunted track, reminiscent of the three Isobel Cambell/Mark Lanegan collaboration projects from earlier last decade, and is well worth a listen on its own merits, but “Summer’s Gone” is the flat tire on Sing The Night In Sorrow a dim track that feels misplaced on the listing. And it’s tough to say this as well, but the Pollard feature doesn’t really offer any “it factor” to the album either. Of the ten tracks, only two are featureless (if that’s even a term) with “Thank You” feeling like the notable effort of work, showing that Mascis has not lost his Big Star, 70’s rock roots amid his new fangled fascination with doom and stoner metal.
What this leads me to is this conclusion: J. MAscis, indie-rock and guitar God to so many contemporaries likes to jam with his friends. Fair enough, but that leads me to want it my way. Why not another Dinosaur Jr. album? This is all fun, and Mascis has certainly earned his indulgences, but why not something with a little more cohesion?
If you’re going on shuffle, or looking for a slumberous mix of indie-rock, Sing The Night In Sorrow might fit the bill. As an album though, there isn’t enough context and it feels less cohesive than I would assume Mascis would prefer.
