3 out of 5

Label: Birdman Record / Tornado Records

Produced by: Campfire Girls

Post some label-dropping controversy I wasn’t even aware happened, Campfire Girls reformed and released Delongpre, maybe a decade after the grunge bandwagon that’d triggered their initial signing had come and gone.  Not that that automatically drops the disc out of the running, as anything that could counter the alternating boy band / yelly band revolution of the early 00s is fine by me, and Delongpre absolutely struts its throaty Cobain vocals and lumbering riffs with impressive verve.  But there’s no denying that it’s music borne of a time when Malkmus-y lyrics could grace the top ten on the radio and albums intended for mass consumption allowed themselves to wander through five minute guitar-driven ebbs and flows like opener I.Y.D.H.T. and then zip through oddities like Dang, That Smarts! before kicking up a notch to the punkier Sneak It in Your Keeper.  Delongpre sounds like a 90s album, dabbed with that something extra – like the insane burst of noise that closes out Little Wolverine – that hints at whatever intensity may have encouraged their initial signing.  That being said, the same casual but confident air in which the disc is delivered means it’s rather lacking in singles, and thus songs that really grab hold of you for longer than their runtime, either lyrically or musically.  Later tracks like Thought Police or Homework show the poppier direction producer Dave Sardy would help the group pursue on their followup – crunchy riffs still perfectly in tow, of course – but if you prefer your grunge with a slight unfinished edge to it, the Delongpre version of Campfire Girls is a worthwhile listen, if arriving a bit too late to have confirmed name-recognition status within the scene.

Moral: don’t do drugs.