According to Discogs, there are 316 people who wish they had my OG copy of Take A Look Inside by The Folk Implosion. Joyful Noise Recordings are banking on there being a great many more than that, as they’ve just announced plans to re-release the duo’s debut LP in mid-August and are taking pre-orders now HERE.
From a fan’s perspective, this isn’t an unearthed gem. The album is quite easy to access on streaming services, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen another vinyl copy apart from my own — and I can’t tell you where I got it, except it was brand new at the time. Probably the long-gone Record Runner in Ottawa.
I remember the first time I heard it, smack-dab in the zenith of my first Sebadoh obsession. The Folk Implosion, of course, are a duo composed of Sebadoh frontman (and then-former Dinosaur Jr. bassist) Lou Barlow and John Davis — a singer-songwriter who simply sent Barlow a tape in the mail.
They made an acoustic EP called Walk Through This World With The Folk Implosion, issued on cassette in 1993 and 7″ in 1994. They released this full-length electric LP later in 1994 — smack dab between the two most-successful Sebadoh albums: Bubble & Scrape and Bakesale. This was the summer between my first and second year of college. My buddy Jordon Zadorozny was the first person I knew with a copy and he showed me the album’s final track, called Start Again.
Man alive. It got a hold of me. I put it on every mixtape for months. Catchy low-fi was my jam because I liked to listen to stuff I could imagine myself making. They also had much of the same gear I had — a Radio Shack PZM mic and a Tascam cassette four-track. Sometimes there’s a unique immediacy which comes from low-fi home recordings. It’s actually rather rare. Most times, it’s just annoying and self-indulgent. But this album nails it.
Start Again in particular — for me — has a number of endearing/emo hooks. I also have a real soft spot for chord organs, which can provide both a wonderfully abrasive pad and a permeating lead melody. There’s an immediately catchy guitar lick as well, and effective dynamics which continue until a rather late vocal melody changes everything and takes you by surprise.
Duos also appeal to me — particularly ones where the end product is similar to that of a chemical reaction. That is to say, you end up with something entirely new and not just a blend of two existing styles. Think The Postal Service or Daft Punk, rather than just Simon & Garfunkel. Such is the case with The Folk Implosion — even through their sonic progression from this album to the rather radio-friendly major label studio album One-Part Lullaby five years later.
In addition to the closing track, there are more than enough great songs to warrant a purchase. The first four songs are all unimpeachable, particularly the catchy Slap Me, which never fails to put a smile on my face.
The second side of the record has a bunch of bona fide low-fi masterpieces as well — Boyfriend, Girlfriend is quite tight and simple. Even more so is Waltzin’ With Your Ego. I’d even call this hit material with some. It was with me. This is followed by the title track, which is among the album’s more complex-but-not-random tracks. And then it’s Start Again, which I loved so much as a 21-year-old that it lives with me like a first kiss.
If you don’t have this album, or if you’ve hunted for it fruitlessly for years, put down your gun, Elmer Fudd. Just pre-order it online and before summer’s end they’ll send you a shiny new copy on clear vinyl.
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Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.
