With so much phenomenal music being cultivated in the early 1990s, including but not limited to: UK-based "dreampop," the raw, bottom-heavy demi-metal coming from the Pacific Northwest (aka
grunge, duh), not to mention industrial, power-pop, and plenty of good ol' American indie rock, I suppose it's understandable why New York City's
Springouse were sort of lost in the fray. Indeed, "alternative rock" was about to bum-rush the mainstream, but virtually anything
not airing on MTV fared no better then before...despite the "revolution."
A trio (not quite the "power" variation), spearheaded by singer/ax-wielder
Mitch Friedland, Springhouse boasted something most new bands couldn't - something of a built-in audience, thanks to drummer/backing vocalist
Jack Rabid, an established music journalist and publisher of
Big Takeover magazine. Springhouse would eventually ink a two-album deal for Caroline Records, but not before issuing a two song 45 on
Bob Mould's short lived Singles Only Label.
Friedland and Co. sculpted a wonderfully melodious shade of modern Anglophile rock, with a propensity for deliriously chiming guitar-work, gracing the backdrop of an unmistakable melancholic ethos. The A-side to this single, "Menagerie Keeper" by and large fleshed out the blueprint that would be Springhouse's calling card on their remarkably consistent, but otherwise under-promoted albums,
Land Falls (1991) and
Postcards From the Arctic (1993). Largely obscured from Springhouse's pensive, world-weariness, lurked a cautiously optimistic outlook, faint as it may have been. Fans of the Chameleons UK, Echo and the Bunnymen, and the like will find a treasure trove of fine music on these records.
Springhouse have reconvened for a new album,
From Now to OK, set for release later this year on Independent Project Records, as well as a brief fall tour. Music can be sampled and tour dates can be obtained from the band's
Myspace page.
A. Menagerie Keeper
B. Soul Astray