2 out of 5

Label: Sonic Bubblegum

Produced by: Tom Zaluckyj

I get that this is cute for how much it abstracts the Dion track The Wanderer (I mean, good luck picking that out – but the songwriter (Ernie Maresca) of said song is credited), but I’ve never been able to get much traction out of this single. The Wanderer could work as part of a whole disc of such minimalist pluckings, or as a complement to a full album of jams, but its sparse rendition of a pop tune – and again, I use “rendition” pretty liberally – feels more like a gag or experiment than something to be taken seriously. I listen to this and try to discern value for how it impacts me emotionally, or works as entertainment, and come up short in both regards.

Whoa Complains is certainly more structured, perhaps out of necessity as a pairing, but doesn’t exemplify anything especially U.S. Maple-y: it’s not deconstructed rock; Shippy’s vocal delivery sounds like him but isn’t especially noteworthy; and the riff and drumming, similarly, are identifiable but are kind of a default staccato style of playing / percussion – another track that would function well as something filler-esque, but lacks definition on its own.