Mark The 1st 2 Albums cassette
God bless the blown-out bedroom pop singers that keep the dream of guitar-based, melody-laden rock songs alive and well. The eponymous MARK offers up two full-lengths of just that on the best format for the form—cassette. At its best, the songs remind me of Matt Sharp’s post-WEEZER output, with a sort of detached but emotive cool. I’d advise against listening to both albums back-to-back, however, as the songs do tend to meander here and there and blur together into a nice-enough soup of pretty decent jams with some high points scattered throughout. Overall, The Short Shrift (the first album) is the more satisfying overall listen, with its more rough-around-the-edges production and straightforward emotive rock sensibility. There are great songs on both though, such as the more ponderous and expansive “Can’t Make it Honest” from Quiet Days. This is clearly a labor of love, and you couldn’t question the sincerity in play here, even if you might find yourself tuning in and out more than you should.