On the occasion of the release of the reissue of “Tweez”, their debut album which turns 35 this year, we are back to talking about Slint. The new version will be available from October 25th, with a remaster by Bob Weston, starting from the original analogue tapes. Here we will talk about the next “Spiderland”. We will do so in this first episode of the column “Great classics of music to be rediscovered”, which starts today on uisjournal.com and which also wants to be a tribute to Steve Albini, the great musician and producer who passed away suddenly a few months ago. Steve was also a music critic and his most famous review concerns Spiderland, a record that made the history of (post) rock.

Slint, fathers of post-rock but not only

Slint – a band from Louisville, Kentucky formed in 1986 – considered the fathers of post-rock, however, don’t just do this. Their parable was as short as it was significant. Spiderland, their second and last album, released in 1991, is a profound sensorial experience, which takes the listener into a land that is at times desolate and dark, suspended between a dream and a nightmare. All six songs on the album are real gems poised between neurosis and moments of melodic calm, marked by a continuous tension while waiting for a catharsis that in the end will never completely happen. Considered – in retrospect compared to its release – the manifesto of post-rock, this album created new matrices for alternative rock, with dark and obsessive sound codes that influenced generations of musicians.

Spiderland lyrics

The lyrics of Spiderland belong to a non-place, they are halfway between narration and poetry. Symbolic landscapes sometimes recited, sometimes whispered and sometimes shouted come out of Brian McMahan’s voice and speak of loss and fragility.

The initial track, Breadcrumb Trail, is a “path of breadcrumbs” that entire groups of musicians will follow, with its famous intro composed of three harmonics, a pause and two triplets and a text that describes a circus landscape as a metaphor for the desolation of soul. “Good Morning, Captain”, instead, tells of a shipwreck and begins with a whispered and alienated recitation, supported by an obsessive rhythmic work and a repetitive guitar riff, and then explodes into a hallucinated scream. “Washer”, a song about the loss of love, has a slow pace and a melancholic arpeggio that leads to a sudden jolt and then returns to the apparent calm and sedation of pain “my head is empty my toes are warm, they are safe.”

Spiderland is a record with odd tempos and never static dynamics, between minimalist arrangements and sudden sound explosions. McMahan and David Pajo’s guitars intertwine, creating constant tension; Todd Brashear’s bass is pulsating and enveloping; Britt Walford’s drums are precise and deep. All six tracks on Spiderland lead to relaxation before launching into cathartic sonic peaks. Dilated times, silences and noise that chase each other, catatonic rhythms that transform into ripples and waves of a stormy lake. The same lake that appears on the album cover. This is Slint’s work of dismantling and restructuring traditional rock. A work that makes Spiderland an absolute classic.

Author: Slint
Title: Spiderland
Type: Post Rock
Year: 1991 (Touch & Go)
Editorial rating: 9/10