This Harness Can't Ride Anything

Chin Up Chin Up possesses a palpable energy. Guitars trade melodies as conversations on "Water Planes In Snow" and if the vocal melody of "Mansioned" isn't stuck in your head instantly, well, you're not listening hard enough. The record kicks off with a loving homage to Minnesota, as Jeremy Bolen croons on about dry humping the abyss. "This Harness Can't Ride Anything" thus sets the tone for the record; a distinct and singular vision of adulthood, Chin Up Chin Up is all post-pubescent heartache and broken barstools. The album searches for beauty in places where no beauty exist and as the album closes with "Trophies For Hire", you can literally feel the mileage of looking for too much, in a land where there is too little. Recorded by Brian Deck (Modest Mouse) at his Engine Studios, the tracks are a joyful mix of shifting dynamics, stuttering riffs, and buoyant arrangements all held together by Bolen's scratched up discourse on breasts, beavers and Minnesota.