Sunny Day Real Estate How It Feels To Be Something On

[Sub Pop; 1998]

Styles: indie rock, emo rock
Others: Promise Ring, Chamberlain, Radiohead

An album for your soul.  How It Feels to Be Something On is more than just one of my favorite albums of all time; it is my heart, my mind, my emotions. 

A beautifully recorded album.  The guitar sound, along with Jeremy Enigk's voice(s), will fuse your mind and body, spawning a hybrid emotion that incorporates the body's need to cry and the mind's need for mental excitation.  Not to mention that, musically, this album seems to have it all: slow mellow rock, hard rock, loud rock, soft rock, math rock, emo rock, you name it.  It naturally exhibits the expected, ingenious, characteristic - Sunny-Day song structures, though not as immediately noticeable as on their previous release, most often referred to as LP2 (or The Pink Album). 

I was fortunate enough to fall in love with How it feels... at a time in my life when I was in desperate need of a release, something to fill a void.  This album did that and more.  Singing along -- well, practically screaming along -- to the choruses of songs such as "Pillars" and "Two Promises" and "How it feels to be something on", and the bridge sections of songs such as "100 Million" and "Guitar and Video Games".  The feeling is indescribable. 

Avoid expecting to hear another LP2, or even another Diary, rather just give a listen.  No matter how you like your Sunny Day (scrambled, over-easy, or sunny-side up?), How it Feels to be Something On is just another example of how well Sunny Day can make music.  Many fans have been confused by the significant shifts in style with each new release from Sunny Day Real Estate, but every album still finds its way to our heart, regardless of its style.  How DO they do that? I was fortunate enough to fall in love with How it feels... at a time in my life when I was in desperate need of a release, something to fill a void. This album did that and more. Singing along -- well, practically screaming along -- to the choruses of songs such as "Pillars" and "Two Promises" and "How it feels to be something on", and the bridge sections of songs such as "100 Million" and "Guitar and Video Games". The feeling is indescribable.
Avoid expecting to hear another LP2, or even another Diary, rather just give a listen. No matter how you like your Sunny Day (scrambled, over-easy, or sunny-side up?), How it Feels to be Something On is just another example of how well Sunny Day can make music. Many fans have been confused by the significant shifts in style with each new release from Sunny Day Real Estate, but every album still finds its way to our heart, regardless of its style. How DO they do that?

1. Pillars
2. Roses in Water
3. Every Shining Time You Arrive
4. Two Promises
5. 100 Million
6. How It Feels to Be Something On
7. The Prophet
8. The Shark's Own Private Fuck
9. Guitar and Video Games
10. The Days Were Golden