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This band means so much to me. Evan Weiss is somehow always genuine but never precious, always smart but never pretentious. I have come back to his catalogue so much over the last decade plus. I remember staring into space on the second story balcony of my first apartment listening to Standards. My now 11 yo was 2 and asleep in the other room. I was a newish dad which isn't really important to loving into it over it but at that time I daydreamed a lot and this band makes me feel like I am going to learn from every mistake. So drink responsibly.
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My friend Matthew Caws went about his music career completely backward.
His band, Nada Surf, had an MTV hit very early in their career, "Popular," and were then dropped (let go, get it?) by the major label that signed them and proceeded to make the best album of their careers on an indie label, without pressure or deadline.
As he told me once: "It's as if we got to start over again, a new band."
Matthew was living a musical life; working in a Brooklyn record store called Earwax, going to shows, writing music. In a way, "Let Go" is a record that asks "what if you had a second chance to do it all over again, the way YOU wanted to do it all along?" And then diving from head to toe into that opportunity.
I've had "Let Go" kicking around in one format or another for more than twenty years and always find something new to love about it; isn't that the very definition of "Favoritte album?"
"Blizzard of '77:" A mellow little piece of recoverred (drug) memory with a decidedly Elliott Smith vibe to it. Produced by then-Death Cab for Cutie member Chris Walla for $100, which the band paid to him in $1 and $5 bills from their merch sales at shows.
"Treading Water:" Linked here, the sound of what adulting in Manhattan looked like then (and still does). "Always rushing, always late."
"Neither Heaven Nor Space:" just high. "And if you sit long enough, you can hear ghost trains/As if the city speed is just in our brains/And coke's as close as we get to sugar cane."
"Blonde on Blonde:" Living that below-14th Street life, soundtracked by Dylan.
"Paper Boats:" a floaty, dreamy ode to depression. "Been thinking and drinking, all over the town/Must be gearing up for some kind of meltdown."
Years later, Matthew and I met up while they were recording their album "Lucky" at a live-in studio in Seattle called Robert Lang (it's the same place where Dave Grohl recorded the first Foo Fighters album). He had just discovered he was a dad and was in the middle of a custody fight over the child -- the mother hadn't told him it was his, there were lots of complications -- and we were comparing notes on fatherhood and just generally in the same headspace about having plenty of problems but being fortunate to have them. He's one of my favorite humans and "Let Go" is his masterpiece.
Oct 2, 2024
I know this album cover is imprinted into the corneas of many already. but I’m listening to this ~8 yrs after I first found it, which sort of marked the start of my own self-discovery w music (along with, who else, but velvet underground). and since they are both so huge, I’ve had a hard time listening to them as earnestly in years since. of course relationships with music change, but I think I became embarrassed by the earnestness of this album & its internet overexposure. but it is sincere and beautiful (+ a little freaky and smutty) and it is very special to come back to every now and then. it turns on a certain part of my soul I can’t usually access when I come to it at the right moment. full of love and oneness w humanity, time transcendent
“let us lay in the sun and count every beautiful thing we can see”
2d ago
This album really changed my life when I heard it. It was at the exact right point in my life where I wanted to romanticize being sad and lonely and I wanted to Yearn!
Musically, this album has impacted me more than I realized. I was going through some old song ideas on my computer today and nearly all of them had blips and clicks panned hard left and right along with guitar and nursery rhyme melodies.
A very special record to me that I encourage you to revisit or check out for the first time love you so much seriously my page is the best I love my fans!!!
Dec 6, 2024
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I know there is a premium version that you can pay for but it is so satisfying to scroll this app and not run into distracting ads. I know it is bound to happen here too but I am just soaking it in.
Dec 30, 2024
Gosh this album. I found it recently and can’t pull my head out of it. There is something about Hannah’s melodies that feels classic but so rich and subtle. The production and mouth feel is spot on. Forever a sad boi xxoo
Dec 29, 2024