Fluoxetine

Sleepless Nights Water Rights

This one’s for all the in-betweeners fluttering in uncertainty. Though still grounded in the beery, roots-rock atmospherics of its 2008 debut, Fluoxetine’s second album summons the contemplative phase of the buzz. The part where you long for people and things you probably don’t even want to revisit. Ryan Morris nails this ambivalent nostalgia on “Your Hometown” when he sings, “You can never go home again/Anyway you don’t want to.” “Strange Disease” is a harrowing meditation on love’s agonies that culminates in a smoldering guitar solo from Landis Armstrong. “Look Around This Room” is an existential chip off the block of George Jones’ “The Grand Tour,” while the heady flange-pop of “Last Night You Rang” is more akin to latter-day Badfinger. Perhaps Sleepless Nights revels in heartbreak, defeat, and generalized disconnectedness a bit too much for its own good, but the standout songs provide the same brand of solace as a steadfast drinking buddy.

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This article appears in July 13 • 2012.

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Greg Beets was born in Lubbock on the day Richard Nixon was elected president. He has covered music for the Chronicle since 1992, writing about everyone from Roky Erickson to Yanni. Beets has also written for Billboard,Uncut, Blurt, Elmore, and Pop Culture Press. Before his digestive tract cried uncle, he co-published Hey! Hey! Buffet!, an award-winning fanzine about all-you-can-eat buffets.