The Seldon Plan, Making Circles

You know that feeling you get when you run across something you used to like but then forgot about, and then seeing or hearing or tasting it reminds you all over again of the way you used to feel? That’s kind of what The Seldon Plan’s debut full-length, Making Circles, is like, at least to me. I hear the mid-speed, deliberate tempos, the boyish, Teenage Fanclub-esque vocals, and the murky fuzz-drone anchoring the delicately-plucked guitars, and I have to smile (okay, yeah, it’s partly because the sci-fi geek in me appreciates the Asimov reference, but still…).

It brings back nights spent in dingy clubs, listening to bands like Seam, Bedhead, Heatmiser (rest in peace, Elliott), and Silver Scooter, people who played this kind of pseudo-melancholy, close-your-eyes-and-bliss-out indie-rock. It’s not as downright suicidal as the likes of Codeine or old-school Low, but there’s still an alluring somberness to it all. There was a point in my musical life where I absolutely lived for stuff like The Seldon Plan, couldn’t get enough of it, and on hearing Circles, I’m back in that warm, cozy little space.

The bad part? I couldn’t tell which song was which, even with the track listing right here in front of me; I lost track after the first few songs (although I think “Top Left Corner” and “Checkered Flag” were the names of two that particularly caught my ear). The good side of that, though, is that it honestly doesn’t matter, so long as the CD keeps playing.