''The Nature of Sap'' is
Portastatic
Portastatic is an American indie rock band founded in the early 1990s as a solo project of Mac McCaughan, singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Superchunk. The project has since expanded into a full band, sometimes including Superchunk gui ...
's third studio album. It was released on
Merge Records
Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expande ...
on March 11, 1997.
Production
The album was recorded at Duck Kee Studios in Mebane, North Carolina, during the summer of 1996, except tracks 4, 7-9, and 11, which were recorded on 4-track cassette on "Old NC 86." Matt McCaughan plays drums on many of the album's tracks.
Critical reception
The ''
Tucson Weekly
The ''Tucson Weekly'' is an alternative newsweekly that was founded in 1984 by Douglas Biggers and Mark Goehring, and serves the Tucson, Arizona, metropolitan area of about 1,000,000 residents.
The paper is a member of the Association of Alte ...
'' wrote that "Portastatic seems to be what happens when an aging punk rocker and his ambitious musical vision 'mature': passivity, depression and terminal boredom." ''
Phoenix New Times
''Phoenix New Times'' is a free digital and print media company based in Phoenix, Arizona. ''New Times'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue ...
'' called the album "a multilayered opus of pop precocity." ''
Paste'' deemed it the band's most underrated album, calling it "a downcast jazzy pop record that dabbles with electronic minimalism and features some of
acMcCaughan’s best song writing." ''
SF Weekly
''SF Weekly'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper founded in the 1970s in San Francisco, California. It was distributed every Thursday, and was published by the San Francisco Print Media Company. The paper has won national journalism awards ...
'' wrote that ''The Nature of Sap'' "finds the normally manic Superchunk frontman in an extended soporific spelunk through the caves of his waking dreams."
Track listing
# "You Know Where to Find Me"
# "A Lovely Nile"
# "Hurricane Warning (Ignored)"
# "Reverse Lester"
# "Flare"
# "Jonathan's Organ"
# "Before You Sailed Around the World"
# "Ben's Revenge"
# "Impolite Cheers"
# "Spying on the Spys"
# "BJJT"
# "Landed"
# "If You Could Sing"
# "The Nature of Sap"
# "
ilent Hidden Track
# "
ntitled Hidden Track
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nature of Sap
1997 albums
Portastatic albums
Merge Records albums