3. Harmacy (1996)
Sub Pop apparently hoped Harmacy would be Sebadoh’s commercial breakthrough, perhaps due to the relative success of Bakesale and the colossal success of Folk Implosion’s “Natural One,” which became a bonafide modern rock hit in 1995 and was all over MTV, with Barlow inexplicably discarding his trademark spectacles. The record unfortunately didn’t live up to its sales expectations, a shame because it was a sensational album, perhaps the greatest balance of stellar songwriting and mainstream accessibility in the band’s canon. The record often tackles larger issues than the boy/girl dynamics Sebadoh were often groove-locked into.
Opening track “On Fire” finds Barlow examining his relationships with bandmates and how he’s wronged them, contrite for his own perfidy. “Too Pure” questions how substance abuse is affecting his relationships, wondering, “Is there a reason for this distance?/ More than the drugs that float my day,” as a cello saws away icily; while “Beauty Of The Ride” is a taut, breakneck anthem rife with lyrical allusions to vicissitudes of life on the road. “Prince-S” finds Lowenstein dipping his toe into Barlow-esque ballad territory, and it succeeds spectacularly, as he plays with the title’s double entendre, “You’re a princess in distress.” And the aching, elegiac “Willing To Wait” finds the band at a shimmering peak, one for which expectations were set a bit too high, as Sub Pop invested a small fortune promoting the track, which hardly registered on MTV and modern-rock radio.
Sadly, the band’s perception of the album seems colored by both its commercial shortcomings and the fact that they dismissed drummer Bob Fay after its touring commenced. But in the overall context of Sebadoh’s discography, it’s a high point, and perhaps worth a re-evaluation by the band themselves after all these years. There are a few execrable tracks, particularly at the end of the record (the instrumental “Weed Against Speed” and Fay’s grand goof “I Smell a Rat” could’ve been excised), but the highs easily outstrip the lows.
