FFFF Live Review:Superchunk

Superchunk

Superchunk isn't the best remembered Nineties indie-rock band. In fact, they might not even be in the top three. These days, the Chapel Hill janglers are more concerned with maintaining Merge Records than jamming out high velocity pop. And yet, 2010's Majesty Shredding turned heads, and rightfully so. Not many bands can play songs released in both the Obama and Herbert Walker administrations without any dissonance. All they do is write songs, which makes Superchunk a supremely normal band; three chords, button-downs, and generous hooks equal a wholesome good time. Nobody's lives were changed – save for the girl sobbing silent tears through "Like a Fool" – but everyone left nourished. Mac McCaughan, Laura Ballance, and Jon Wurster aren't rock stars, they're good friends with cool jobs. They deal in gooey vibes, not iambic pentameter, which is, of course, what makes them beautiful. Austin lifers stormed the fence, earnest in worship and eager to play. Superchunk looked happily indifferent, checking the setlist and rocking out some more. It all looked easy, nobody overworked or underinvolved – just another show in a remarkably consistent career. Maybe you could call it autopilot, but Superchunk's been doing this long enough to make everything look effortless.