The Rentals, “My Summer Girl” (Return of the Rentals, 1995)
Spoon, “Sister Jack” (Gimme Fiction, 2005)
The Rentals’ cheekily titled debut Return of the Rentals made shyness a part of its sound. The guitars were a wash of fuzz and buzz that sat mostly in the background; the band’s three keyboards were used not to create lush textures but tiny monotone jingles; Cherielynn Westrich’s backing vocals were rarely doubled, and when she was joined by Petra Haden they often sang unisons rather than harmonies; and of course, Matt Sharp was fronting the band with a restrained murmur and a bass guitar. All that might help account for why the record never really got its due, and how a song like “My Summer Girl” could have escaped a one-time 90’s-emo fanatic like myself for so long. Little is made of Pat Wilson’s five-four beat; it disorients only in the seconds before the rest of the band kicks in, after which the mind relaxes, allowing the sweet, soothing melody to overpower the unconventional rhythm. Spoon takes a smaller but still potent risk with “Sister Jack,” waiting until the outro to show their hand. The song rocks faster, harder, and looser than anything else on the otherwise taut, studied Gimme Fiction—so when, near the song’s end, they start adding an extra beat to the end of every phrase, one can scarcely help but go along with it.
