This reissue of the Bostonian shoegazers’ debut album, originally released on Caroline/ Hut in 1992, comes with the five-track Your Aquariun EP from 1993. It’s essentially the original line-up’s entire output as, shortly afterwards, Drop Nineteens fragmented: three of its original members left, while the reshuffled outfit embarked on a radical change of direction with their second album, National Coma.
Delaware’s triple-guitar wall of distortion owed much to contemporary stylistic trends in the UK – most notably the reverb-drenched My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive – and Drop Nineteens signed to London-based Caroline before even playing a show in their native Boston. At times, such as on Delaware, Winona and the avant-freak-out Reberrymemberer, there are echoes of Sonic Youth floating in the mix, but Drop Nineteens have their own way with atypical song structures, as on Ease It Halen and Kick The Tragedy. Like SY before them, they also turn in a barely recognisable hijacking of a Madonna single – in this case Angel.
Sticking with covers, the Your Aquarium EP includes a throwaway take on Barry Manilow’s Mandy, which comes delivered in the same spirit as fellow Bostonians The Lemonheads’ version of Suzanne Vega’s Luka.
