Thursday, September 23, 2021

The Cotton Weary


The Cotton Weary were born from the incredible Long Island emo scene, which gave birth to many other bands of note, none more so than Taking Back Sunday. It would be pointless to give a background for the band and their scene, as that was already done by a former band member on the To Live and Die on LI blog. It's a good read, so be sure to check it out. The Cotton Weary played midwest emo in the vein of Sunny Day Real Estate, laced with post-hardcore and indie rock influences. As their discography progressed, they grew increasingly spacey and moved in the direction of post-rock, a maneuver that would be completed with follow up band and future blog post candidate Satellite Lost.

Like so many underground bands, The Cotton Weary's unreleased discography is roughly the same size, if not slightly larger, than their officially released material. All the unreleased files come from the blog, but since the links are long dead, I have no way of knowing if I've assembled everything. That said, I'm reasonably certain I have at least most of it, and likely have all of it.

The band's first official release was the cassette demo The First to Come in Last, self-released in 1998. Two of its tracks would find their way to compilations. However, prior to that the band produced some other unreleased demos, including several with their original setup of two vocalists, male and female. These tracks have a pretty different feel thanks to the female vocalist, and they're an interesting look at the band that could have been. In 1999, Viva Maestro! came out, the band's most well known release and the apex of their original sound. 2000 saw Cinematic Overtones released, a short EP that showcases a band in the middle of a shift; my copy came from a band member who was kind enough to throw it in for free with another order and it lacks cover art, so the cover image comes from Discogs. The band's last official release was in 2002, taking part in a five way split. Two of its tracks are early versions of tracks from the unreleased LP.

The band was working on their first full length when the end came. The tracks for what would have been Your Three Minute Pop come from the LI blog and are unfinished, most of them lacking vocals. The album is solidly post-rock in many respects, and sounds like a dry run at what would be Satellite Lost's sound.














the first to come in last + Viva Maestro! + Cinematic Overtones + Five Way Split + Compilation Tracks

Unreleased + Your Three Minute Pop

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