A journey through Will Sheff’s hometown of Meriden, NH circa 1985, The Silver Gymnasium instrumentally is something of a clarion yin to the crepuscular yang of I Am Very Far. But The Silver Gymnasium belies its jaunty instrumentation, cannily provided via accoutrements courtesy of producer John Agnello, with its ruminations on lost loves, broken dreams, and a pervading sense of disillusionment. “Down Down the Deep River” explores the minutiae of taping songs off the radio, as Sheff proclaims, “there was something in the air, something gathered in the air, something singing in the wind,” with a certain wide-eyed naiveté. This isn’t yet an idyllic journey “Down The River Of Golden Dreams,” but it’s something of a parochial precursor — a memory of a time when Sheff believed in something within his small town, and is able to look back on it with the clarity of a glimpse through the middle distance of adulthood. It isn’t entirely devoid of cynicism — “show me my best memory, it’s probably super crappy,” he biliously intones on “Pink Slips.” The Silver Gymnasium doesn’t fatuously deny the complexity of coming of age at a certain time and place — instead it captures the spirit of youth and its attendant contradictions, meted out by Sheff with a certain cold clarity.