I picked this one up several years ago for a very nominal fee, gave it a spin or two and filed it away for a half decade or so, like I do with way too many albums. Today I pulled it out of retirement. Upon doing some research on the apparently defunct
Miss Lonelyheart, I learned their discography consisted of far more than
Signal and Response, though all signs point to this being their swan song. From what I've been able to surmise from my online travails, this album found them in a mellower state of mind, stacked up against their preceding full length,
Geography. Nonetheless I'm hearing a healthy dose of aggro indie rock swagger on
Signal... pointing to due south, specifically Chapel Hill, NC. Miss Lonelyheart may not bear the calling card of any particular Merge Records stalwart, but that lauded, regional indie aesthetic goes a fairly long way in coloring this album. Aficionados of Buffalo Tom and Matt Pond, PA would also do well to get an earful of this Shippensburg, PA trio, who by the way, for this album were scaled down from what was originally a quartet. Physical copies of
Signal and Response may still be available from
Interpunk.
01. The First Barrage
02. Simple Line
03. On a Train Up a Tree
04. Transmission
05. Recalibration
06. Frontier Settler's Anthems
07. The Notes That Matter
08. Early Morning Runaways
09. Digital Imagery
10. Less Flattering
11. Discard the Three of Clubs
Hear
Good review of yet another album I hadn't heard of. I couldn't find Signals on Allmusic, but they did have Geography and I heard a nice snippet of the song "Surfactant." I'll be looking for this one.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome. If anyone has the rest of the stuff, esp Geography, I would love to hear it.
ReplyDeleteAt the moment, I have nothing else by ML, but may do a follow-up entry if I find anything.
ReplyDeleteyeah, 'Geography's pretty damned great! i'd even say it's better than 'S&R' because of that 2nd gtr. btw- there's also one before 'Geography', it's called 'Average Appliance Lifespan'. hard to find but well worth it!
ReplyDeletehttp://tumblr.com/ZGQwAxFqTHCf
ReplyDeleteI used to know these guys in our little "music scene" lol. They were great live! Geography was their best album, produced by the legendary J. Robbins with an unmatched indie feel for its time. Average Appliance Lifespan is probably my second favorite. Although, if you ever run across their first "tape", self titled with a man and a plastic dinosaur on the cover, that's the quintessential sound in raw form with slightly more urgency. Don't email me for .rars because I simply don't have any of their material anymore. I do however have Potholder material (who played many shows with MLH) for the serious. I received these files years ago out of the kindness of Potholder themselves.
ReplyDeletedon't remember seeing this post. pretty sure i reviewed this album when it came out and still have it. i just looked them up and they have a bandcamp page with a bunch of their stuff:
ReplyDeletehttps://misslonelyheart.bandcamp.com