On the Mouth

While the hardcore-schooled gallop of “Precision Auto” gets <i>On the Mouth</i> off to a blazing start, Superchunk’s third album also infuses their punked-up pop with greater depth and texture. On “From the Curve”, crisp acoustic-guitar strums underpin the song’s distorted drive; the six-minute “Swallow That” rumbles atop a lurching, Kim Deal-styled bassline en route to its accelerated, tambourine-rattled finale. Perhaps the greatest gauge of their evolution is “I Guess I Remembered It Wrong”, which projects Superchunk’s signature emotional intensity through a sleigh-belled shimmer.