5 out of 5

Label: Polyvinyl

Produced by: Ian & Jay Pellici

…On which 31Knots give up on trying to pretend like they’re still a guitar rock band, and sink into the boastful poppy agenda toward which they’d been a tip-toeing. And for the absolute best: the Polyvinyl era of 31Knots was a bumpy ride up to this point (and after), requiring – even when I’d come to love a release – sitting with any given album for a while to find its rhythm; to deal with the battle between my expectations and hopes and the reality. I mean, they were great discs! …They just didn’t hit my heart and mind as directly as the 54’40 era stuff did; I had to fight a bit.

I did not have to fight for Worried Well.

Even structurally the album is different, ditching the habit of a first “intro” track, and also making the whole thing feel both concise and like a journey. Older, proggy 31Knots was pretty sprawling; the earlier Polyvinyl discs felt forced at points to prove arty bona fides; this one is just a straight up album, confident in its strut from start to finish. Hand-in-hand with that is the sense that our group is in sync: Jay Pellici’s drums are no longer a hitch behind the wank of guitar and bass; letting go of needing to solo and rock out has lead Joe Haege embracing keys more fully, and becoming a sardonic crooner – not an angry poet. (Though he’s still plenty angry…)

This more fleshed out, perhaps less “loud” style is a better fit for Jay and Ian Pellici’s production approach, which favors flush and clean sounds – again, WW is more pop than what we’ve heard before, while still maintaining all the dark themes of Joe’s lyrics, and the clever dodges of the music. And there is guitar, and volume; it’s all just more willing to veer toward hooks and choruses.

Worried Well, to me, is the last 31Knots disc. Followup Trump Harm is solid, but it begins to feel closer to what Haege’s solo work would become, like giving in to / accepting the direction the band was taking is also what led to its dissolution. But that’s kind of a brilliant journey, also, and makes the “fight” I experienced with the preceding albums all the more worth it, to get this brilliant piece of anarchic pop.