2 out of 5

Label: Academy Records

Produced by: Eric Davis (recorded by)

Scammed!

…Okay, not really, but when you get a ping from Racebannon saying they’d dug out some archival material featuring bandmembers from ‘bannon, Rapider Than Horsepower, and Jaded, I guess my mind went to assuming I’d be getting something kinda punky and loud, and that’s not what J Reunion is. I’m admittedly not familiar with the band Jaded, but I looked them up and saw links to other groups I like (Traindodge!), so I wasn’t shaken. Meanwhile, I completely glossed over the “FFO: Silver Jews, Sebadoh & Sonic Youth” mentioned on the bandcamp, and that is a fairly accurate FFO.

So no, not scammed, but not paying attention. And not why I’d rate this the way I did.

The FFO is, as mentioned, fairly accurate. …For some of this. Opener Three Shoes is definitely of the Silver Jews and Sebadoh vein – light indie folk stuff – but followup The Naked Man is like an early Pavement B-side, with singer Eric Davis even tossing in a Malkmus vibe with the vocals. Regardless, these are favorable comparisons, except J Reunion don’t really deliver anything too definitive in these outings. They sound like the aforementioned bands, but can’t mimic those bands’ tendencies for hooks, and also don’t add any real flavor of their own. The recording is warm, and I like some of the group vocals, just musically, lyrically, it kind of feels like a first draft.

This sense his me a bit more with B-side ‘Six Count,’ which is an instrumental track, and like something kinda light and playful you might’ve heard on Southern Records back in the day, such as Karate. The same issue as the A-side persists, though, with no real standout quality, and furthermore – it’s just a loop that fades out. The inconsistency in sound with the A-side would be fine if the track stood on its own, but it, again, comes across as a sketch – a B-side to B-side tracks.

The Graduate is not bad material by any means, there’s just not enough to describe it without name-checking other bands, or mentioning bands the players were / are otherwise a part of. So it’s more something to own as a collector.