Spoiled

Lou Barlow has spent his career in the space between confession and craft — in Dinosaur Jr., in Sebadoh, in Folk Implosion, always returning to the same territory: domestic failure, romantic inadequacy, the specific pain of being unable to be the person someone needs. The lo-fi aesthetic wasn't a style choice; it was the only way the feelings fit.

Spoiled, from Bubble and Scrape (1993), is characteristic Sebadoh: a song that sounds unfinished in ways that reveal rather than obscure, Barlow's voice close to the microphone, the sentiment specific enough to feel genuinely personal.

Sebadoh's place in the lo-fi and indie rock canon is secure. The early recordings remain the most unguarded work Barlow has done.