houldn't be hard to see where I took the name for this blog. I wanted to talk about this album first, not because it is one of my all time absolute favourites, but because I feel like it's one of those albums I still go back to, talk about all the time, and often get puzzling looks when I faun about it.I first heard Wheat's album Hope and Adams some time in high school. It was a moody, emotional, and at times complex orchestral pop album, which probably might have had a broader audience had the Flaming Lips' Soft Bulletin not come out the same year. In some ways, Wheat are a lot like late 90s-early 00s Flaming Lips without most of the weirdness.
It took the band four years before Per Second was released; it was put out by Aware Records, which was distributed by Columbia. It was a foray into major label-dom right around the time that digital music sharing completely decimated the record industry. Needless to say, this album got very little publicity. I don't know that Wheat were ever really that popular, but they definitely had a buzz going in the late 1990s.
On the surface, the album sounds extremely polished and very acutely produced, a possible repercussion of the move to a major record label. Hope and Adams had a lo-fi-ness to it that endeared many; it wasn't quite shoegaze, but had a raw quality that I'm sure to some was the Wheat sound. In sticking with the Flaming Lips comparisons, the band picked up Dave Fridmann, producer of the Lips' music from the era. Per Second sounds like a glossy, polished major label record. To some, this is definitely a turn-off. To me, it's natural evolution.
On Per Second, the guitars shimmer, the harmonies sound almost too perfect, and the drums sound crisp and clear. But what works most for the albums is that the songwriting is really strong. Album opener I Met a Girl is propelled by an off-tempo punctuation in the drumbeat. The song, along with many of those that follow, is catchy, well-constructed, and quite instantly memorable. There is a definite predictability in the song structures, but where Wheat are at their best is when the upbeat songs sail along, and the slow moody numbers don't come across as trite.
On the outset, I wouldn't be surprised if this album was mistaken for one by Jimmy Eat World, or the commercial power-pop of the time. To be honest, I don't think this is a bad thing. The album is processed, glossy, and extremely tight. Everything seems intentional, from the brief studio muttering before Go Get the Cops, to the synth swells and many-layered harmonies.
The biggest misstep on this album is the inclusion of the secret track, an overproduced update of Hope and Adams' signature love song, Don't I Hold You. Where on the previous album, the song felt vulnerable and genuine, the new version is far too polished, and loses a lot of its emotional resonance. One of my favourite moments on Hope and Adams happens right at the end of its version of the song, when singer Scott Levesque sings the word hold for the last time, and it sounds like it's almost out of tune. The moment is endearing and realistic; it makes you think that this singer, who has written a beautiful and personal song, is a human, and these are real emotions. The new version misses this point. It seems like a robotic copy, the same way that certain radio pop songs are overproduced.
Sometimes pop, even at its most accessible, can be beautiful and enjoyable. Per Second... is not a perfect record, but it is cohesive, comfortable, and well made. What more could you ask for?
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