"Pleasure takes it toll - People lose control every day - Hypocrites like us - deserve a little trust along the way". Barlow is in finest form vocally and emotionally on this newest, singing with that earnest sincerity that sometimes elicit Neil Young and J. Mascis (of Dinosaur Jr.) comparisons. I think there is a more overall focused or cohesive feel to this album as opposed to previous works that were more across the board in style approaches and recording directions. Also missing is the intentional 'low-fi' sound of the recording Barlow/Sebadoh used in previous efforts.

"The Sebadoh" is far from studio-slick, it still has a rawness to it, but compared to past works, this one has a more produced feel. The drum sounds are the most 'live' sounding element, often sounding like a room mike picked up the whole kit. The songs here tend to revolve around a single idea or progression, building layers or stripping them back to separate movements of the songs.

The non-stop walking 1-2-3-4 beat of "Flame" shoves the song over itself and builds on it's urgency, layering in washy flange guitars - strips back to the walking beat and begins the build again - neat dynamic (with a faded in/out reprise with a little more noise added before the plug is pulled entirely). "Decide" comes across with a nice urgency kept by a pace that keeps falling over itself (this pushed and clumsy sincerity flows through most Sebadoh work).

The odd time 1-2 time stumble of the chaotic "Cuban" (before pulling it back a notch to sing over, then bringing it up loud and clumsy again in the breaks) again evidences Barlow's knack for creating a song out of a "non-riff". The drumming on "Nick of Time" is an interesting almost off time beat accompanied by a tambourine that create the entire rhythm track while guitars bend and whine on top of it.

I could go on about each song, and that's the charm of this album in a nutshell. Each song really hits with a varied structure and (somewhat) varied instrumentation. This approach is nothing new for Sebadoh, but again, compared to past efforts, "The Sebadoh" just flows more cohesively. Once again, the Sebadoh crew (Lou Barlow, Jason Loewenstein and Bob Fay) put together something likable, listenable and a little left of center than the rest of the world.