Deserve (Couple Skate)

Following a pair of vinyl singles, noisy local quartet Weed has entered the full-length market with a pretty damned distorted debut called Deserve. Like its 7-inches, the nine-song set has Weed slinging out, pound-for-pound, some of the most potent ’90s-alt-rock-inspired tunes in the game right now. “Silent Partner” is anything but demure, with drummer Bobby Siadat’s kit-crushing beats forcing the rest of the crew to push their power chords into an ear-bleeding danger zone. Will Anderson’s vocals do, however, take the quiet-loud-quiet route, evident from the whispered-to-screamed sections of “Heal”.

Despite his dreamier passages, Anderson’s words practically drip with despair. Throughout the set he analyzes fractured relationships, loneliness, and the concept of keeping healthy, most bleakly on the suicide-contemplating “Options” (“You made me lie/So fuck it, goodbye”). An optimistic reprieve comes in the form of the instrumental “A Few Healthy Years”, but thematically Deserve strives to stew in sullenness. Things are looking up for Weed, though, with yet another North American tour on the horizon and the LP picking up steam via shout-outs at Pitchfork and NPR. One of the strongest sets to come out this year locally or otherwise, it’s not only the fabulously fuzzed-out record Weed wanted, it’s the one Weed deserves.