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The old five-point scale has been retired in favor of just rating stuff 1-10, which allows me a much more nuanced final rating. Still don't take it that seriously. Most of these come from my own collection, so the grades skew rather high. Your results may vary if you send me stuff to review.

Each album is given three Essential tracks, my personal favorites, regardless of how weird and inconsequential they are. The Quintessential pick is the one I think best represents the album as a whole, so you can try one song instead of a whole album of songs. Non-Essential picks range from merely disappointing to outright unlistenable.

Wrong Way Driver

[#] Nonplussed (2011)

Reviewed March 18, 2024

Baby marten.

The later projects of anyone involved in the criminally-underrated Pine Marten always have my attention. Although drummer Brian Thornell recorded roughly thirty songs in total under the name Wrong Way Driver, we only got one EP, 2011's Nonplussed, officially. As for that EP? Well, don't expect any massive stylistic shifts from Pine Marten. Nonplussed carries forth the woodsy, approachably warped indie rock of his former band, but straightens it out a bit, playing more like traditional 2000s indie rock with an acoustic bent. It might sound lame to switch the drones for open chords, but the results are still plenty fun, a nice companion EP rather than a continuation.

While his drumming on Nonplussed is much simplified from his work with Pine Marten, the frequent slapback echo and lagging lope (especially on "The Age We've Become") contribute to a similar moving-wrongly-through-time feel as Beautiful Stakes. "Age" is probably the track I'm least taken with, but the rest of the record shows him plenty capable of catchy lines ("What you're building's no machine/It's just a washboard to keep your soul clean" from "A Marvelous Contraption" is a favorite) and eerie moods ("Hunting in the Dark", "Circles Become Stains"). It's too short to judge for long, but fans of Pine Marten and bipolar acoustic rock take notice.

Essential:	Quintessential:	Non-Essential:	Rating:
"When Life Strings You Upside Down", "Hunting in the Dark", "A Marvelous Contraption"	"Circles Become Stains"	"The Age We've Become"
Download from Wrong Way Driver's Bandcamp

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