I keep thinking I've heard that angry, squally, pressure-cooker style riff in the opening seconds of Sundress somewhere before. Was it repurposed by Hum themselves or has it served as an inspiration to other rock bands since?
When I first heard Sundress, I regarded the "fast half" - up to around 2:23 - as superior to the slower second half. It was like Warm/Crawl by Velocity Girl all over again, but subsequent listens and the lyric video shown above have brought home to me how beautifully balanced and wonderful the whole song is.
Publicity photos from the time that Sundress was recorded, don't appear to show Hum as a bunch of longhairs, but sonically they manage to weld together the thrash of grunge with the relentless attack of Big Black. What Hum achieve in Sundress is to place their audience - hormononal, angsty, sexually aware and emotionally turbulent - in a setting where what should be a romantic moment can descend into chaos due to the protagonist revealing that he struggles to express himself. The spectres of depression and unexplained violence hang at the edges as Matt Talbott reacts in an almost psychotic way to his lover showing them her new sundress.
It's the colour scheme of the dress that is the giveaway on this. I have to say that with the blend of yellow, red, black, white and grey, Talbott should have been telling his girl to ask for her money back given the unattractive mix of colours, but it feels as though the blend provokes in him a range of emotions which match the colours: rage, depression, sorrow all come across in the ferocity of the music and his rants about how unhappy he is about what she has to tell him. Maybe it's a break-up song and she's dressing up to show that she is moving on and looking to attract someone new. Either way, Talbott comes on like Dennis Hopper's PTSD Vietnam War returnee in Tracks (1976) and there seems a very real risk that he'll drive away the Taryn Power figure that is trying to help him.
However, the song appears to end on a note of reconciliation and calm, with the girl appearing to reflect the sunshine and light suggested by the yellow and white of her dress, by bringing Talbott down from his rage. It is a salvation which he is appreciative of, describing her as all he wants. This feels like a scene that has been played out many times before and will be again. We can relax for the moment, but the nagging sense of dread remains about what may happen when the girl can no longer pacify Talbott. The opening lines Flowers flying everywhere/Dragon spruce is in your hair suggest that it will not be pretty.
Video courtesy of Sean Seagler
All lyrics are copyright of their authors.
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