"I remember seeing The Adaptation for the first time. I was a judge at the local high-school battle of the bands. Among the endearingly shy young bands and performers, there was this two-piece that made a bunch of noise. The drummer played only a kick and a snare, and he hit them like he was practicing drumline routines. The singer screamed like Cobain or that guy from Cloud Nothings, but he had two separate mics, one facing the crowd and another behind him, facing the drummer. One verse he would scream at the crowd, the next he'd scream at his drummer. It made no sense, but it was cool. They took second place. Now they're a power trio, prolifically gigging and dropping lo-fi demos on bandcamp.

This new album revisits the band's strongest tracks with new recordings captured directly to tape on a Portastudio 4-track by the band. It was a pleasure to mix the album and eventually release it on Tell 'Em, especially having heard these songs grow and evolve from that first performance. Equally powerful and shambly, the LP is a classic ode to melodic rock n roll that's rough around the edges ala The Replacements and the Clean. The words range from pretty neat ("West Coast Slang", "Dinosaur Man") to damned brilliant: check out the poetic observations of "High School" as they capture all the aching uncertainty and anxiety of that shitty place with a particularly Westerbergian romanticism. There's a nonchalant confidence on this tape that wasn't fully realized on the demo versions on prior releases. This is the definitive summary of this fertile period of creativity for The Adaptation, who've come a long way since finishing second."-JH

Limited to 50 hand-numbered cassettes.

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