Back in those lost days of the nineties, Lou Barlow took time out from his band Sebadoh (which had begun after leaving Dinosaur Jr) to team up with John Davis as The Folk Implosion, and the group had a hit when they soundtracked much of the very-nineties movie Kids. But the nineties ended & so did The Folk Implosion, Barlow returning to Dinosaur Jr, balancing that with Sebadoh & his own solo work. Yet fast-forward to 2020, and COVID-era Barlow (QRO interview then) reunited with Davis for the return of The Implosion with Walk Thru Me.
Distinctly on Barlow’s weirder, lo-fi side, Walk manages to mix elements of even world music, but also a wry relax, starting with opener “Crepuscular”. Barlow mostly takes vocals (Davis’ lean a little too weird), and is best when his emotion is more pressing, such as on the title track and “O.K. to Disconnect”. It all comes together quite nicely in the closing “Moonlit Kind”, mixing that relax and that odd.
It’ll never be the nineties again (though don’t we wish we lived in that era of peace & prosperity…), and we’re not getting those random alt-acts who all of a sudden hit it very big. But we are getting our old alt-acts back (and Barlow is still the hardest-working man in alternative music), bringing back their sound for a new generation/millennium.
