Music Review: Superchunk

To some, a ‘majestic shredding’ would entail a sundown mincing of bills and credit cards. For others, it might signify the inaugural drop into a skate park vert ramp.

Superchunk has come up with a more appealing possibility with its latest release. Majesty Shredding is a definitive gamut of indie-punk-pop rapture encompassed in 42 relentlessly catchy minutes.

Superchunk, patron saint of the Chapel Hill music scene, is back with a vengeance on its ninth studio album, nine years after its last full-length release.

As both pioneers and emblems of ’90s indie rock, Majesty Shredding demonstrates that the band isn’t content to rely on the same sound and formula that made it famous. The new record is fast-paced, up-tempo and as innovative as any younger Pitchfork competitor, but it’s honed by a sense of experience and know-how that many new artists lack.

But where youthful acts often fall back on filler, Superchunk’s latest is an exercise in precision and consistency.

The band flexes a Darwinian mentality in regards to creativity —in the realm of indie rock, it’s clear that Superchunk continues to evolve.

The guitars are sharp and fast, the vocals are pristine and the melodies are unexpected. It’s a characteristic that has earned the group a position as commander-in-chief of the contemporary punk-pop scene.

The teenage and college fans first spellbound in 1989 have since doubled in age and cut their ponytails, but the 21-year-old group shreds as blasé as ever.

Just as 2001’s Here’s To Shutting Up utilized an unforeseen pedal steel, Majesty Shredding has a startling coat of polish.

There are still hints of the distortion and feedback that graced the band’s past work, but the new album expands the definition of what a pop-punk record can be — Superchunk trades insouciance in favor of depth, and it works.

“My Gap Feels Weird” is one of the album’s highlights, with layered vocals, quaking drums and raging guitars supporting a striking coming-of-age story.

As the second track on the record, it’s a blind-siding punch that addresses timeless ideas with a rapid, energetic melody that cycles through your mind long after the song has ended.

The centerpiece of Majesty Shredding, “Fractures in Plaster,” features clandestinely woven strings. It may seem unorthodox on a punk rock album, but in the context of the track, it’s an ideal counterpart to Mac McCaughan’s whine and the rest of the band’s hard-rocking instrumentation.

This is the album’s real knockout, a change of pace that’s a refreshing shift from the sound some listeners expect.

But this isn’t to say the record is a complete departure. Fans of Superchunk’s past work will find some familiar territory in McCaughan’s distinct voice and Ballance’s thrumming bass line. Songs like “Winter Games” and “Everything At Once” evoke the group’s early ’90s material, a sobered counterpart to the rest of the record’s experimentation.

Still, the latter half of the album is less intoxicating than the beginning. It casts fewer hooks, but lays down a heavy dose of lyrical gambit that sustains the listener’s interest, at the very least.

After more than two decades, it’s often hard to detect the fervor and vitriol that first sparks many successful rock groups.

But Superchunk is a notable exception — the band’s latest is sonic proof that gray hairs might be the only thing that’s aged about them.

The album’s solid fruition is a zenith of progress that has been 21 years in the making.

Though the band experiments on its recent release, Superchunk’s pop-punk roots are still intact — and if Majesty Shredding is any proof, this local band is still digging deeper.

Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.