Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary Review
Posted by Eric Katz on 09.24.2002
THIS, my friends, is EMO.
Hey again, it’s Katz, I’m back and I’m bringing you music again. I believe this will be my fourth review, and that’s cool by me because there’s a lot more where this comes from. I always appreciate the e-mails, because generally the people who e-mail me are the ones who have actually HEARD of these bands. Haha, and they get even more obscure.
Back in the early 90’s, there was this music that was kind of like this rock thing. You know, bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana. What’d they call that? Oh right, GRUNGE. Yes, grunge ruled the early 90’s. But one of the untold stories of music, while grunge was running rampant on us all, was the alternative to it. There were several bands that were making music completely opposite. Well, not completely. This music had a power to it, but a dynamic switch and almost yelling lyrics. It was in the vein of Rites of Spring and The Moss Icon. It was the return of “emotional hardcore”. And one band summed it up into one cd.
Sunny Day Real Estate were, what you could call, enigma’s. They did only 1 interview in their first run, between 93-94. They refused to tour in California (for whatever reason). Little was known about them. They producded one cd, broke up and had another produced after their breakup. They came back together in 99’, produced two more cds, and have since parted ways. You may have heard of one of them, the lead guitarist and backup vocalist, Dan Hoerner. He played backup guitar on the So Impossible ep for, yikes, Dashboard Confessional. He’s the dude in the Screaming Infidelities video (no not the main character, that’s Chris Carrabba you f*cks). Anyway, the lead man for Sunny Day Real Estate was Jeremy Enigk. Music junkies should take down his name, as he perfected the “emo whine”. Only it was original back then, so it was cool. Jeremy was also the source of some conflict in the band, as the first break up was related to his finding of Jesus and him becoming some what of a Jesus freak (and freaking out the rest of the band).
“Diary” was Sunny Day Real Estate’s debut cd, released on Sub Pop records. The album, produced in 93’, was counter to everything around back then. It was counter to all the grunge rock. It was different, it was unique, and it was the biggest release in indie music that year. The opening track, Seven, features one of the least dynamical, but greatest, tracks ever. I can’t really tell you what makes this awesome, it’s not the usual style of their songs. The chord structure is good, and it features Enigk’s emo whine. The next track is another big single, In Circles. Now this has some dynamic shifts. The slow versus, the pickups at the chorus, it’s the emo format played to perfection. Another favorite track of mine is “48”, which displays the dynamic shifts to perfection.
Lyrically, Sunny Day Real Estate does have the somewhat “girly” idea in their lyrics. “I lost myself when I looked into your eyes”, you know, things like that. But their lyrics never really follow a pattern. “In Circles” has about three sentences in it, and it’s still a good song. So they don’t really get positive or negative points in the lyric section.
One thing that I really can’t leave out is the awesome art work throughout the cd. The cover is very cool, with these little lego like people standing there smiling and a toaster burns. Throughout the booklet, they have a lot of great pictures. Also, the video for “Seven” incorporates some of these pictures (that’s also one of the coolest video’s I’ve seen that was made before 1995).
So now you know, friends, where “emo” comes from. Granted, this isn’t “emotional hardcore” in it’s original phase, but Sunny Day Real Estate WAS phase two, the post hardcore emo music that you saw in Cap’n Jazz, early Get Up Kids, early Jimmy Eat World, etc.
This may (probably is) be my last cd review but don’t think I’m gone from the 411 music staff. You’ll see me very, very soon. So don’t slack off.
