Perfect From Now On

When Doug Martsch and his rotating crew of friends started recording their 1997 major-label debut, even their most devoted fans couldn’t have been prepared for this. Given a bigger budget and a bigger stage, Built to Spill responded with bigger songs than their usual lo-fi basement-bops, with most songs clocking in at over six twist-filled minutes, and turned Martsch into a guitar hero in the process. Truly epic back when that word still meant something, songs like “Velvet Waltz” and “Kicked It in the Sun” gesture at classic-rock grandeur while creating something special and enduring in its own right.