Merge (2025)
I will readily admit that I was very disappointed in Superchunk's last album, Wild Loneliness. It was slow and kind of boring, in my opinion. I've always preferred the faster, punkier Superchunk songs and that album didn't click with me. Luckily, there's no shortage of Superchunk albums out there that will give me that fix, but I can't say I was particularly excited or expecting a whole lot when they announced this year's new record, Songs in the Key of Yikes.
As long as they keep making Superchunk records, I'll keep buying them. So, as usual I preordered the new one without listening to anything. Once I put it on, I was pleasantly surprised. It's much better than Wild Loneliness. While I can't fathom they'll ever hit the highs they hit in the 90s for me (seeing them close their set opening for Rocket From The Crypt with "Slack Motherfucker," "Precision Auto" and "Hyper Enough" pretty much confirmed my opinion of that), this is a solid record, with upbeat and catchy songs. The mope is on the back burner and the hooks are at the forefront.
Thirteen albums (and forty-five 7" singles) into their career, I don't know exactly what I could possibly say about Superchunk that wouldn't be a rehash of anything else I've ever said. If you are reading anything that I write, the odds of you not having your own opinion of Superchunk already seems absurd. You know what they sound like. You know they're great most of the time. All I can really tell you is that this is one of their their records with upbeat songs than slower ones. It's on the more subdued side of their upbeat catalog, but it's a good record. I dig it and unlike a couple of their other albums, I will definitely listen to this one from time to time.
Superchunk – Songs In The Key Of Yikes:
https://superchunk.bandcamp.com/album/songs-in-the-key-of-yikes
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