Ah, I really don't like Dear You. I don't understand where that record fits at all. How did they go from 24hr Revenge Therapy (their sole LP which can be considered truly great) to their creative peak ('Housesitter', 'Sea Foam Green') to that piece of over-produced, under-written nonsense record in such a short space of time? Then immediately afterwards they were writing great songs like the aforementioned 'Esme Needs Her Story', 'Gemini', 'Shirt' and 'Elephant'. Take Dear You out of the discography and you'd never know it was missing. It doesn't fit!
I dunno man, i think a lot Dear You is an extension of some of the poppier stuff from 24HRT like Boxcar and Boat Dreams from the Hill. and the few songs i've heard from Unfun (yeah, i'm waiting til the reissue to get it) were kinda poppy. if anything, Bivouac and the darker songs on 24HRT were an excursion away from what they were doing otherwise. and i wouldn't call it under-written, if anything it's far more focused. as much as i love Bivouac and 24HRT, there are a few songs on each that just labour over the same ideas, or don't really go anywhere. they're not bad, but they don't hold my attention like their counterparts on Dear You.
i'm biased because Dear You is the first one i heard, and i still think Accident Prone is one of the most amazing songs ever recorded, but i think it's a great record. can you imagine if that'd been the album to hit it huge instead of Dookie?
