Album: Indoor Living
Year: 1997
. . .
Superchunk kept it moving forward in the mid-1990s, releasing two records in 1995: the singles compilation Incidental Music (1991-1995) as well as a regular studio album, Here’s Where The Strings Come In. Just because I’m not writing about any of the songs from either of those records — though the song “Foolish” (left off of the album of the same name) from the former and the long and lovely “Sunshine State” from the latter are both worth checking out. As are both albums, honestly.
Instead, today’s song is “Burn Last Sunday” from 1997’s Indoor Living album, as 1996 was the first year since they formed that had no new Superchunk music, meaning, of course, that they’d entered that phase of their career where they would put albums every couple of years instead of every year.
“Burn Last Sunday” kicks off with Mac McCauglan yelling the first verse over chattering chords.
Another season crashes to an end
The branches you thought you’d break
Well, they just bend
They just bend
As the whole band crashes in as he sings “Well, they just bend,” you kind of assume that he’s going to go directly into the second verse. But “Burn Last Sunday” isn’t a song like that, because instead, Mac takes a long melodic lead before going into the second verse. And again, after the second verse before settling down into the pre-chorus breakdown.
Let’s burn last Sunday
Let the week go by
Let’s burn last Sunday
Watch the ashes fly
Let’s burn last Sunday
Any section’s fine
Let’s burn last Sunday
Let me close my eyes
This pre-chorus is a great place to hear how locked-in Superchunk could be as a band. Drummer Jon Wurster and bassist Laura Ballance have basically stopped pushing the beat forward, so you can focus not just on the words, but the interlocking guitars of Mac — who’s playing a three-note hook — and Jim Wibur, who slides in around both Mac’s guitars and his vocal.
All of this makes it super cool when they all power into the chorus.
‘Cause if you burn last Sunday
Well, if you burn last Sunday
Well, that fire’s back sometime
After that, it’s basically a melange of guitar leads and reasons to burn last Sunday, until the song eventually ends.
“Burn Last Sunday”
“Burn Last Sunday” live in Washington DC, 1998