Once a bastion of camaraderie and artistic good will, the Mendoza Line is now an enterprise entirely shot through with and utterly hollowed out by hatred. Specifically, the women hate the men and the men hate themselves. The many excellent reasons for this development are meticulously and tunefully documented on the new LP We’re All In This Alone, an album which closely explores the genders’ differing outlooks on sex and fidelity, while attempting to ascertain precisely the reason why all romantic relationships must ultimately culminate in a relentless spiral of anguish and misery. Drawing from older influences Elvis Costello, Richard and Linda Thompson, and the McGarrigle sisters as well as an abiding fondness for contemporary acts like Neutral Milk Hotel and Quasi, the guys and girls of the Mendoza Line trade off songs, hurling insults and leveling lurid accusations all the way. The effect is that of a blistering, alternately funny and sad forty-two minute argument, suggesting indie-rock’s very own answer to “Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf”. Which faction of the Mendoza Line ultimately prevails is a matter for each individual listener to decide, but there is one matter agreed upon by both sides, and hence bears no dispute: we’re all in this alone.
Earlier this month Bar-None Records reissued the band’s third album as part of a 20th anniversary release. Chronicling the band’s hectic relocation from idyllic Athens, Georgia to various locales in New York City, the album’s heady, anxious mixture of exuberant melody and avant-garde noise reflects both the turmoil of their lives in that moment and their desire to create something both beautiful and ugly in equal measures.
First convened around the early months of 1995, the Mendoza Line, during a four year residency in Athens, Ga, failed to befriend a single member of the world renowned Elephant Six Recording Collective. It was not for lack of trying: on at least one occasion the group attempted telephoning Kevin Barnes from Of Montreal in the hopes of having him “harmonize” on a track only to be informed that he would be busy consuming meals indefinitely. Shortly thereafter, efforts by Paul to grow a beard resembling that of Scott Spillane from The Gerbils resulted in a discomforting swelling of the chin, and later, a brief hospitalization. Utilizing only the most conventional of instrumentation and recording techniques, the Mendoza Line’s utterly familiar brand of sub-industry folk-rock is far more reminiscent of contemporary Christian radio, than say The Music Tapes or Elf Power. Complimented once at a cafe on her jogging acumen by an amiable Jeff Mangum, Shannon became disoriented and was able to respond only with a slur of insults and ambiguous hand gestures. The fruits of this collaboration are evident throughout We’re All In This Alone, already described by some in the know as “the least psychedelic record of the last twenty years, and quite possibly the least interesting.”
The new edition of We’re All In This Alone features three tracks from a cache of rediscovered recordings from the sessions, long thought to be lost to history. One of them, the Husker Du-meets-“Here Comes The Warm Jets” rocker “Waiting in The Wings” is an abandoned classic and one of the best things the group ever recorded. Today Glide is excited to premiere the video for the song, which was recorded and filmed in 1999. With gritty punk fervor and a garage rock-meets-left of the dial indie sounds, the song is an infectious and lively affair that makes you long for the days when there were far more bands writing straightforward, guitar-driven rock music. It’s easy to imagine this tune blasting from the speakers of your favorite college radio station, and the grainy footage of the band performing only adds to the nostalgia.
Mendoza Line’s Peter Hoffman recounts the song and its discovery:
“’Waiting in the Wings’ was recorded in 1999 in Athens, GA. The track was never released. In fact, it was completely forgotten. In late 2019, Peter Hoffman, one of the Mendoza Line founders, was rummaging through his storage unit and discovered several long forgotten tapes. One of the tapes contained three unreleased songs including ‘Waiting In the Wings’. Several months later, the original 2-inch and 1/4-inch tapes of ‘Waiting In The Wings’ were discovered in Athens at Chase Park Transduction by legendary producer Dave Barbe (Sugar, Deerhunter, Drive-By-Truckers). Barbe kept the tapes for over 20 years. No one knows why! He digitized the mix master and sent it to the ML. The track has been re-mastered for the 20th anniversary reissue of ‘We’re All In This Alone’. This is the first Mendoza Line video.”
WATCH:
