Superchunk

Foolish (1994)

Foolish trades some of Superchunk's earlier, more purely anthemic energy for songwriting shadowed by real emotional weight, written as Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance's relationship ended while the band carried on. "Driveway to Driveway" carries that undertow in its restless, unresolved feel, the band's usual momentum now shot through with genuine ambivalence. The album never abandons the band's melodic instincts, but it complicates them in ways the earlier records hadn't attempted. It stands as the record where Superchunk's personal stakes and musical craft lined up most visibly.

Sleeve notes

Foolish · 1994

Superchunk formed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1989, led by guitarist and vocalist Mac McCaughan and bassist Laura Ballance, who also co-founded Merge Records — the label that would go on to release the band's own catalog alongside a roster eventually including Arcade Fire and Neutral Milk Hotel. The band's early records channeled a bright, fast, melodic strain of indie rock and punk energy, McCaughan's yelped vocals riding over layers of guitar that favored momentum over aggression.

Foolish (1994) marked a turn toward more emotionally direct, less immediately anthemic songwriting, written in the aftermath of McCaughan and Ballance's breakup as a couple while the band continued as before. Superchunk's steady presence at the center of Chapel Hill's underground scene, combined with Merge's growing importance as an independent label, made the band a connective institution for American indie rock well beyond what any individual record accomplished, and the group has continued recording and touring across multiple decades since.