Small Brown Bike – Fell and Found

When it comes to Small Brown Bike, I’m guilty of being a little more than late to the party – in fact, the Michigan staple had long since broken up before I fully acknowledge their notoriety or significance.  Even then, the prospect of catching up with the veteran quartet was daunting, and something I had promised myself to do, but never knew where to start.  Eventually I forgot the agenda and went along my usual news and review writing duties until the two finally overlapped.  Small Brown Bike had formally reunited after a seven-year absence, and it was the talk of the punk community.

It still meant nothing to me.

I posted a few press releases about a couple of minor vinyl offerings and Fest appearances, but recalling my intimidation, never bothered looking into them.  But Small Brown Bike was back, picking up momentum, moving beyond reunion concerts and planning their attack on a scene practically salivating for something new.  Intent on existing beyond nostalgic memory, Small Brown Bike started writing, giving birth to their first new full length since 2003’s The River Bed.  The fruit of their toil manifested into the eleven-track Fell & Found, an album forcing me to finally confront the band.

The learning curve was nowhere near as steep as I had envisioned.  In fact, my first listen was a wakeup call.  Hot Water Music meets Bouncing Souls meets Jawbreaker.  Why hadn’t I invested my time sooner?  Fell & Found has everything I look for in a record.  It’s comforting, inviting, contemplative, reflective, and boasts teeth just sharp enough for an aging twenty-something like myself.  Small Brown Bike emits the same confident warmth of other “post-retirement” acts like Hot Water Music, Smoking Popes, and Get Up Kids.  They understand what made them unique, and fully embrace their strengths.

Demonstrating a very strong command of post-hardcore and late 90’s experimental indie, Small Brown Bike hint at Fell & Found’s atmospheric direction in the cover’s colour pallet.  Warming orange fades to earthy hues, yellow and auburn dance between one another like a sunset through a spindly forest grove.  This sense of earthly maturity solidifies when drummer Dan Jaquint leads in the somber march that is “Onward & Upward.”  Mike Reed toasts to future endeavors: “Searching, for things I used to know, there’s trust I have for this meaning… The hurting stops right now, and any past missteps, forget them.”  Travis Dopp’s cautiously pummeled guitar amplifies Reed’s gritty sincerity with a subtle but co-dependent interplay.  “Rescue Mission” rolls on in with an image of a dormant winter season, referencing the coming spring through themes of forgiveness.  Momentary flutters undulate as they permeate the warmth of the whole, sonically embodying the concept of rebirth.

“Delicate” hasn’t traditionally been a common descriptor for Small Brown Bike, but tracks like “On Repeat” make a strong case for the adjective.

The band employs analogous wisdom to their vocal performance.  Mike Reed remains frontman, but Ben Reed and Travis Dopp make good on their own contributions.  In the piano laced “Just Bones” Dopp scales down his weathered growls to something more resembling The Gaslight Anthem without retracting his battered tone.  Being placed late in the album, the shift develops a sense of weary knowledge and lessons learned.  Returning to Reed, he closes out the album with what I imagine is his softest work to date in “All Of Us.”  Reed gives up his gravelly overtones for a weary and defeated saunter representative of just how times have changed since Small Brown Bike’s youthful beginnings.

Like a battle scarred sail having weathered many a storm, Small brown Bike has gained character from its break up.  Reuniting after eight years under a new perspective has birthed new life in an album shedding old standards in favour of new growth.  As someone who hasn’t delved deep in the Small Brown Bike discography, Fell & Found has satisfied me in a way that ultimately required no prior introduction.  I mention my own history (or lack thereof) to stress that if you never bothered with Small Brown Bike in the past, or never considered yourself a fan, Fell & Found is a relaunch worth being part of.  Well worth every self-reflective minute.