“There’s nothing else to do, so you start a band in Dayton.”
Morella’s Forest made dream-pop music that seared the skull in sugar and screeching fuzz. The singer’s bubbling sweetness was matched by a racket of guitar noise, an Animal-istic drummer and a bassist well-versed in electro-funk and Peter Hook’s high-necked melodies. Hailing from Dayton, the same city that introduced the world to bands like Guided By Voices, Brainiac and The Breeders, they released four well-received albums that brought worlds of shimmering dream-pop conjured by a quartet of rust belt wizards.
Their debut album Super Deluxe was their noisiest and most spontaneous sounding release. After heavy stints of touring, the band holed up in the studio with engineers Christopher Colbert, Steve Hindalong and Bill Campbell. Two weeks later the band had enough material for Super Deluxe. The songs drew immediate comparisons to bands like My Bloody Valentine, The Breeders and label-mates Starflyer 59.
Super Deluxe – originally released July 11, 1995 – opens with “Hang Out.” High-pitched feedback punctuates the drummer’s frenetic rat-a-tat and the guitar’s rhythmic scrape as Rentz sings over the noise: You’re familiar, I’ve seen you before / Where do you go when you hang out? As a lead single, “Hang Out” is punchy, yet disaffected – a distinctly ’90s combination if ever there was one. But as you move through the aptly titled “Lush of Spring,” the sassy “Superstar,” the New Order-y ballad “Oceania” and the shoegaze-candy crunch of “Puppy Luv,” it’s clear that MoFo had much more pop craft beneath the sonic assault.
Looking back 26 years later, the songs sound as fresh and earnest as they did when they were first released. Lost in Ohio is excited to announce its reissue in both orange and green swirled vinyl! Original engineer Christopher Colbert crafted beautiful analog remasters for the vinyl edition, and lacquers were cut by Lex van Coeverden at European shop The Vinyl Room. The packaging features extensive liner notes from NPR Music’s Lars Gotrich and a recreation of the iconic Hot Wheels photos courtesy of Ohio-based photographer Nikki Nesbit.
- Hang-Out
- Lush of Spring
- Wonder Boy
- Superstar
- Oceania
- Fizzle Kiss
- Puppy Luv
- Glowing Green
- Star Gazer
- Curl
