I guess I might as well acknowledge the obvious: Emo is back. Some version of the Alkaline Trio is touring, and I keep getting albums from people who dig the side of emo that never clicked with me. I was there for bands like Jawbox and Texas Is the Reason, not so much for what came later. Grieving is raw, loud and largely ignorant of melody. I heartily approve.

Grieving Everything Goes Right All at Once (By the Time It Gets Dark)

The rhythm section is wonderfully tight, and these songs bloom and fade quickly. There's plenty of buzzsaw guitar and shouting. And yeah, this is right in the Superchunk/Jawbox wheelhouse. So that's a good thing.

Grieving doesn't really advance the sound or add much in the way of modern touches. It borrows the old sound without stealing anything. And while these folks hail from the U.K., they might as well be recording in D.C. 25 years ago. At the beginning of things, as it were.

Really, this is just something I have might put on after Grippe or some other album from those last halcyon days before grunge paved the world for a few years. I'm glad some of the kids found the right button on the time machine. Nothing new, really, but blistered with aplomb.

Jon Worley