Pershing (album)

Background and production

The album's name refers to John J. Pershing Middle School in Springfield, Missouri, which Philip Dickey attended.

The track "HEERS" references the Heers Building which is also located in Springfield, Missouri.

The album's production is more refined than the lo-fi Broom, but retains the doubled vocals, moving bass lines, and clean guitar lines played by electric and acoustic guitars from the former album.

The album is dedicated to the bands' lifelong friend, Alex Bethurem, a Chicago area indie music fan (originally from Springfield, MO), who took his own life.

A pre-order edition of the album featured exclusive original artwork and three bonus tracks. The first two are demo acoustic songs: an early draft of The Beach Song, I Didn't Mean it; and Stain, a cover of the Nirvana song.

Reception

The album received internet buzz as well as favorable online reviews on indie music blogs. Taylor from the music blog Music for Ants said "It’s got that jangly pop that fans have grown to love, and the melodies are still top-notch." One Amazon.com customer review describes it as "Quirky chord changes amid massive hooks and addictive melodies."

On the other side, Pitchfork gave the album a 6.2/10, stating "Pershing is so easy-going it tends to forget trying to be memorable." AllMusic gave Pershing 2.5/5.0 stars, calling it "a boring, careless record that tries too hard to be witty and hooky, resulting in something that resembles the indie-hipster version of the nameless college-guy jam band."

Track listing

1. "Glue Girls" - 3:26
2. "Boring Fountain" - 3:44
3. "Dead Right" - 2:21
4. "The Beach Song" - 2:48
5. "Modern Mystery" - 4:20
6. "Some Constellation" - 3:12
7. "Think I Wanna Die" - 2:49
8. "You Could Write a Book" - 3:13
9. "Oceanographer" - 4:45
10. "HEERS" - 3:26
11. "Doris Tailspin (Boring Mountain)" - 0:56

Personnel

The band members are credited as follows.

Additional musicians

Production