5 out of 5

Label: Taste Media

Produced by: Dave Sardy, ?

See, singles are easy, you just have to fill it up with good songs, duh.

You can understand why the two extra tracks here were pared from ‘No Push Collide’ – ‘Countries for Breakfast’ hits some of the same pacing marks as select songs on the album, but lacks a meaty hook, and ‘How To Think of Always’ is just straight punkish rock, which ‘Collide’ grunge-stepped away from.  The latter style would become more prominent on their followup ‘No Teeth’ album, suggesting that maybe Sardy had a lot to do with sharpening up Serafin’s sound.  Regardless, distilled down to these three tracks, it all still works perfectly: album track Day By Day is a great, poppy single with Vines-y shouty choruses; the lack of hook in ‘Countries’ matters not when paired with this track, and the sheer energy of the group’s output overwhelms the tinnier recording of ‘Always.’

These are B-sides, and I agree with them being non-album tracks, but they’re excellent tracks that show off Serfin’s backbone – and that it’s still as strong as ever even without a producer powerhouse maybe leading the way.