Flip to side four

>> Indie icons Unwound wind up with a classic double album

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Some of the most flawless albums ever made have been two-record sets, usually captured at a band's creative zenith. Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade, the Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime, Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation, the Beatles' white album and Miles Davis' Bitches Brew are a few that spring to mind. Soaring beyond the familiar, digestible, 45-minute LP format and making the listen worthwhile throughout can be extremely tricky territory.

Across their 10-year career, Olympia, Washington's Unwound have managed to constantly evolve and provoke. With their new two-CD set Leaves Turn Inside You, however, the band has ventured beyond their early sonic barrages toward a denser sound, flirtations with psychedelia and a solid backbone of melody. The diversity and dynamics strewn across this exhaustive listen is what will place them in the ranks of double-album greats like the Hüskers, Minutemen and Miles. "We always wanted to do a double record," says guitarist Justin Trosder, "but I'm glad that we waited until we had more insight on really how to make a good record before making it. I think now is kind of perfect timing for it. We weren't really committed to making a double record, but I think if we would've pared it down, it wouldn't make as much sense."

Part of the reason that Unwound were able to make the record work over the two CDs worth of material is that they no longer had to worry about clock-watching after building their own studio in their digs in Olympia. Another contributing factor to the success of their new record is the band removed themselves from their standard work ethos of tour/write/record/tour and took three years to write and complete the new record. "We took an unofficial break after we toured the last record, I guess. We started writing songs but we had come up with the idea that we were going to record it ourselves and build the studio. Then we had to rebuild the studio because it moved, so that took awhile. So we really didn't start working on the record until last year."

For the upcoming tour Unwound have added a keyboardist and second guitarist to make the live sound even more dense, but Trosder says that changing things up is all just part of the plan. "Touring as a five-piece has definitely pushed us to challenge ourselves a bit more now. It's just more inspiring, playing with more people. The sound is bigger and the spaces are filled up more." Trosder also insists that the secret to a healthy 10-year career--never going stale and resting on previous winning formulas--is quite simple. "For us, we are doing this more for the music than a career choice and to keep us going we have to keep evolving, be it adding different people live or changing up song structures. We have to do things like that just to keep our blood flowing."

With Mecca Normal and the Marato at la Sala Rossa on Saturday, Sept. 8, 9pm, $10