The Folk Implosion ★★★
Walk Thru Me
JOYFUL NOISE. CD/DL/LP
Erstwhile movie soundtrackers Lou Barlow and John Davis reunite.
Fired from Dinosaur Jr. in 1989 over a beef about songwriting input (amongst other dysfunctions), Lou Barlow soldiered on with his lo-fi sideline, Sebadoh, until a soundtrack gig on Larry Clark’s controversial grunge-era teen movie Kids with a more loops/beats-driven new project alongside John Davis yielded The Folk Implosion their 1995 transatlantic hit Natural One. The two concerns co-existed for a few years, but after Davis quit acrimoniously following an unsuccessful Interscope deal, only one more Implosion LP was forthcoming, until this reconciliation effort with Davis. Where the original incarnation chimed with the late-’90s excitement surrounding rock/dance fusioneers like The Beta Band, Walk Thru Me Andrew Perry feels less vibey and cutting-edge, with occasional polemical tunes reedily voiced by Davis, and Barlow brooding on grown-up issues like parenthood (My Little Lamb) and battling depression (Crepuscular) – not different enough from latterday Sebadoh, or indeed solo Barlow, surely, to reprise 1995’s commercial uplift.