Point Nine - QUARTERBACKS
In defense of twee
I’ll be honest. I should know more about twee music than I do. The equal-part-subgenre-equal-part-movement is fascinating about 10 years removed from its peak. What exactly twee is is a bit hard to verbalize - adjectives like quirky, awkward, charming, and Greenpoint-y come to mind. This doesn’t tell a full story, however, or even much of a story at all.
A lot of people discredit things that can be described as “twee”, though I suspect a lot of this comes from an unfounded hatred of the well-documented relationship between millennials and the internet. As the first generation to truly embrace the internet (or even have an opportunity to, for that matter), a lot of the naivety of this era of interpersonal digital life is greeted with an unfairly negative connotation and reception. Though it is natural for a generation of youth/young adults to look upon their preceding generation with scorn, the twee movement receives the brunt of the less-than-favorable attention. Yeah, kids are going to think the stuff that came before them is lame, this is not news. But I think that it’s time to pump the brakes on this a little. Ukuleles can understandably get a little irritating in excess, but you’re really going to sit here and tell me that you don’t like New Girl even a little bit?
The twee mentality was not a new phenomenon in music around this time. Reverberations of the famous C86 cassette and labels like Sarah and K have been felt since the 1980s. In the early 2010s, as twee culture saw an internet-based revival, bands followed suit. One of these groups was the product of one Dean Engle of New Paltz, New York. His project, QUARTERBACKS, was originally a solo entity, an outlet for Engle to craft catchy, humble pop songs in his spare time. These early recordings received some love on internet spaces, heightened by the reputation of the independent Double Double Whammy label that distributed the releases digitally, as well as on the twee-est of physical mediums, the cassette.
Eventually growing into a full-fledged three piece with Tom Christie on bass and Max Restaino on drums, the group released their self-titled debut studio LP in 2015 on the equally regarded Team Love Records. Taking a number of cuts from early QUARTERBACKS tapes and repurposing them into unrelenting twee punk snippets, the record received acclaim from those in tune with the at-the-time twee happenings and beyond, even receiving a write-up in the New York Times. Seriously, they play fast on this record. Places to be and things to do, I guess. There’s a certain youthful frenetic energy that’s just infectious. Most every song on the record is about love, oftentimes unrequited, yet there remains a kind of optimistic glow emitting from the open chord progressions and charmingly cute choruses.
This seems like an appropriate time to state that Engle is a long-time family friend of mine. Being a music-obsessed prepubescent who would visit the Engle family two or three times every five years, I owe a lot to Dean. He is the one who gave me my first vinyl record, a copy of The Beatles’ Second Album wrapped in a t-shirt displaying an early incarnation of the QUARTERBACKS branding. Knowing that he was in a band as a 7-year-old who desired nothing more in the world than to play music for the rest of my life, I looked up to Dean and still do. This record coming out was the most important thing that had ever happened to me when I was in 6th grade. What? The guy I’ve known my entire life has an album out? That’s possible?!
The closing track on that album is about as close to perfection as twee punk can get. “Point Nine” begins with a descending guitar riff before crossing paths with a melodic bass hook and a peppy hi-hat rhythm. Before long, Engle makes his sentiment known.
I've only known you
For nine-tenths a percent of my life
You've only known me for
Point eight of yours but
There's something in the way we kiss that
Keeps me assured
From here, the band bursts out into an unstoppable chaotic fury, though Dean speaks as heartfelt as ever. Dean is in love, so much so that he begins to scare himself.
I have no expectations for the future
The present's too perfect to think about that
Sometimes I wonder if I should slow down
Make sure my heart stays intact
The second verse and chorus compound on this relationship, with Dean speaking about how he trusts his lover and never wants this feeling to stop.
And why would I want to?
You've always felt so good
Admittedly, I don’t know Dean as well as I wish I did. I was but a young child when he changed my life by inspiring me to pursue music as the passion I knew deep down that it always was. We have not kept in contact. QUARTERBACKS is defunct and through updates from my mother, I know that he is doing quite well. This makes me happy. I don’t think he knows how much this album, and this song in particular, fully changed everything for me. There might not be this blog today if not for Dean. Perhaps I will reach out in the near future to let him know.
Listen to “Point Nine” here.