Pinback - Blue Screen Life

Pinback perfects the essence of laid back home recording on Blue Screen Life, an album that sounds like a band set up in your living room, had some fun, and recorded a lo-fi indie-pop record for you.The harmonies, dual vocal lines, Zac Smith's signature bass tone, and Rob Crow's restrained yell are all defining elements of the band. When you hear any of those, you know it's Pinback. And, when you hear Blue Screen Life, you know that it's one of the most influential albums of the decade.

Each song on Blue Screen Life is a melodic-rhythmic hybrid in which the bass or keyboards carry the rhythm while simultaneously creating an underlying melody. Songs written like this are hard to come by. Similarly, the dual vocals, in which two melodies are sung, one on top of the other, are hard to come by. And, when the two lines combine, a beautiful harmony is birthed. It's really quite genius - quite a trip.

Pinback's Blue Screen Life will carry the band for the rest of their career.