Following a cross-country move from Boston to Las Cruces, New Mexico, married musicians Justin Hubbard and Tara McManus quickly shifted gears, starting up new trio
Far Corners together in a similar, but perhaps more noise-damaged form as their previous garage punk act
Turpentine Brothers. While
Far Corners was coming into being, Hubbard began recording at home in a similarly lo-fi sound, calling the project
Germ House. His home recordings were more tune-minded, but coated his searching melodies in swells of noisy tape and guitar barrages. Months went by and
Germ House slowly developed from a cathartic home recording project into a full-fledged band, including McManus again on drums as well as bassist Joe Atoub. Debut full-length
Showing Symptoms collects the best of Hubbard's home recordings as well as sessions put to tape at a slightly more technically advanced studio. The ten tracks here all bristle with compressed cassette graininess and the audible struggle in Hubbard's songwriting between abrasive, bad-attitude punk experimentation and the optimistic jangliness of the Flying Nun roster. Tunes like "Whoever Said This Should Be Fun" sound like the wildest interludes from early
Guided by Voices albums, translated into the scuzzy language of early Cleveland proto-punk acts like
the Electric Eels. Elsewhere "40 to Stay" channels the
Wipers while more melodic tunes like "I Can't Stand Neon" and "Cold and Uptight" lean more on jangling, wandering guitars, sounding in their best moments like lost demos from a far more agitated version of
the Bats.
Showing Symptoms nicely toes the line between introspective punk songwriting and more aggressive fare, and the woolen feel of its home recording production allows its various moods and tantrums to gel perfectly. ~ Fred Thomas