My Top 1000 Songs #936: Seems So

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

While the Apples in Stereo's 1995 debut was a jubilant slab of lo-fi noise pop, and an excellent introduction to the Elephant 6 collective of indie bands which would fully launch with the following year's long-playing debuts from Neutral Milk Hotel and Olivia Tremor Control, it was the Apples' second record, 1997's Tone Soul Revolution, which established what they could do with some more careful (but still far from slick) production as well as Robert Schneider's rapidly developing songwriting chops.

Opening track "Seems So" is all pleasant jangle and warm melodies, wrapped around a whimsical tale of a late-night UFO visit. Or maybe a visit from something else? "When I tell the world my troubled plight, now do you think they'll listen? Or is this the kind of tripe people like to put on television?" You can hear it simply as a magical little pop tune, or a greater sign that what had started as a low-key home music project had pivoted into a powerful force in a growing indie pop movement.

Live 1998: