Keeping in step with the buildup release patterns of Sarah Records,
the Sweetest Ache issued a series of well-received 7" discs before becoming a source for full-length guitar jangle reminiscent of an unobtrusive
Arthur Lee and the kind of deliberately miniaturized indie pop that made
the Orchids sound like
Raging Speedhorn. On
Jaguar, their 40-minute debut, they'd taken things close to the ground, so close to the ground as to start off with the Sunday church fuzziness of "Briaris" and the early winter tumbling of the saxophone-accented "Capo." It could have stayed there, of course, but the band tilted the rest of the album toward a swift, quietly climactic clash of boyish spoken word arrangements, of ragged, backwards-masked situational pop, and the occasional air of
House of Love innocence. Not a particularly special trick. ~ Dean Carlson