Black Wine’s self titled debut is a combination of punk pop and late eighties early nineties alternative bands, there is the three chord sugarpop frenzy of bands like The Decendents and Agent Orange and the earnestness sound and structure of bands like Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr, and other assorted 120 Minutes alums.

Like an episode of 120 Minutes, you get a wide range of styles on this album, from the nearly grunge “Black Wine”, the stompy shouty girl vocals of “Haunted” a lot of this will seem immediately and intimately familiar. I love it, but I’m having trouble discerning if the work is good on its own or if my pleasure derives from the references to music which has been a part of my life for 20 years. Do I laugh and smile because of the music I hear, or do I laugh because I hear my youth in this music?

On its own, the music is well crafted. The male female vocal counterparts intertwine while managing to separate Black Wine from other similar set ups such as X or Daylight Robbery. The guitar parts are as strong as you’d expect from Jeff Schroeck, showing a maturation and extension of his work with The Ergs playing in a variety of styles, from the gunge slog of “Couch Critics” to the bouncy alternative of “Cockroach” to earnest clean tones of “Belong” and “Broken Arm Bear.” While Miranda Taylor’s vocals are as pleasant as in Full of Fancy and her drumming is quietly competent. Not flashy enough to warrant attention but certainly steady as you please. I couldn’t hear the bass enough to warrant an opinion on it due to it being somewhat obscured in the mix.

The album on first listens struck me as 33% great songs, 33% ok if overly familiar, and 33% just absolute train wrecks of songs. Something in the guitars or lyrics that didn’t on first listen mesh with the rest of the album, or possibly a misplaced juxtaposition of the songs surrounding them on the album, or even just the lyrics, the horrible, horrible lyrics of songs like “Cockroach”

There’s a cockroach waiting outside the door /
He’s got a key but we don’t lock it anyway /
Don’t let him in because he’ll never leave /
He’s always falling down

But then going though and listening to the rest of the song with an intentness I didn’t afford on previous listens brings this into better focus with

Full of hate and lies /
I can only open my heart so far /
These creatures aren’t worth my time /
Waste of my time

At first I hated that it didn’t follow typical pop styles but then repeated listens made me love it more and more and trying to pick which songs are the weaker is almost folly.

My absolute favorite song on Black Wine is “Greengrove Road,” a simple song about times past which calls to mind my favorite songs off of Full of Fancy’s Sweet Baby Jesus Miranda Taylor is joined by Marissa Paternoster of Screaming Females to sing an ode to times tragically long gone. Their dual vocals invoke a sweetness that seems somewhat out of place from the rest of the album, and whose lullaby lull is broken by the final track “Belong” which is an anthem for all the outcasts.

I can’t tell if the album escapes the weight of history. I am genuinely unable to discern if the gravity of my own prejudices towards the antecedents to Black Wine colored my expectations of the album and if that gravity made me expect one thing yet get another. However, as it stands now, Black Wine is incredible. Grab a heart full of ache and some headphones and try to listen without the expectation of nostalgia. Delight in the lyrics and their vocalizations, delight in the music that twists and feeds back on itself like Ouroborus.