The record the only artifact left behind as a timeless snapshot of a group of individuals in transition, newly discovered each year by a fresh crop of music fans reaching a similar inflection point in their own lives. To most everyone that found them after the fact, the band was no more than an apparition. Over time, the record went on to become one of Polyvinyl’s best selling releases to date, and ended up serving as “one of the single most influential rock records of its time” according to Noisey and many others. Such an inauspicious turn of events made what followed all the more incredible. Not long after Polyvinyl Records released American Football’s self-titled debut album in 1999, the band called it quits, having only played a smattering of Champaign-Urbana college house parties and sets at small clubs like Chicago’s legendary Fireside Bowl. Sunburned is a darkly lyrical and hermetic fairy-tale of a record that hints at the deeply personal while maintaining a veil of mystery. The instrumentation differs significantly between songs, but there is unity in the albums wistful tone and Dickens’ baritone sing-speak.
It is a collection of haunted lullabies informed by the mysterious underbelly of life on the West Coast as much as musical touchstones such as Scott Walker, Syd Barrett and the Television Personalities. Sunburned is made up of songs that Dickens had been working on for as much as ten years’ time. Now the album is being made available with a new cover and two extra songs through JAZ Records in a run of 300 copies. Recorded in pieces over a number of years, his debut album Sunburned was originally released as a limited run cassette in the autumn of 2015. Frank Dickens is the nom-de-musique of the former singer, guitarist, and songwriter of Vancouver’s shadowy pop band Peace, formerly signed to Suicide Squeeze records. Also, our used bins are stuff with killer slabs these days, so get on down for a dig while the weather is warm. Another modest list this week, but I have it on good authority that next week is going to be a whopper.