At War With The Silverfish by Laura Jane Grace

This record here has been through quite the journey. I ordered it in October 2021, with an expected shipping date of late March 2022. This is pretty much the norm when it comes to record pressings nowadays. Then a series of unfortunate events perfectly illustrated the current state of record production. According to Polyvinyl, the pressing plant was at first running behind schedule. Then their pressing machine broke down in mid-May. The plant was never able to get the machine up and running, what’s worse, they couldn’t even tell the record label what their position was in line.

Polyvinyl was fortunate to find an alternate pressing plant in Europe. The jackets/packaging were delivered to Polyvinyl’s warehouse from the original pressing plant and assembled together once the records arrived earlier this month. A lot of work to get about 14 minutes worth of music on my doorstep on Labor Day of all days. Thanks USPS!

As for the music, I dig it. Most of the songs are stripped-down, acoustics that feel like intimate home recordings. “Long Dark Night” and “Electro-Static Sweep” are the two most produced tracks. I tried looking up some of the musician credits, or instruments used, or whatever, but liner notes are pretty limited. Full lyrics are included, at least.

Bangers: Lolo 13 (favorite track), Smug FuckFace (slight Mountain Goats vibes), Yesterday Pt. II