Special Explosion To Infinity - Cassette

Special Explosion’s debut album has the specs of an advanced degree in Pacific Northwest indie rock: It’s schooled in a syllabus of classics and supplemented by mentorships with the genre’s hallowed institutions, and it even took four years to complete.

To make the record, the Seattle band set up shop in their hometown’s Hall of Justice, Portland’s Ice Cream Party Studios, and Marin County’s Panoramic House.

The first two are respectively helmed by Chris Walla and Modest Mouse, while Band of Horses’ Why Are You OK was recorded in the latter.

To Infinity spends most of its time triangulating the ornate fretwork, jittery rhythms, and widescreen splendor of those exact artists, while plucking from basically everything else in the regional canon: Beat Happening’s unnerving twee lyricism, the Spinanes’ alternately brash and cooed co-ed vocals, the Shins’ meticulous architecture, you name it.

The first two tracks earn their titles of “Wet Dream” and “Perfect Song”: To Infinity is indie-rock wish fulfillment, the kind of record that inspires “they don’t make ‘em like this anymore” plaudits even if they never were exactly like this in the first place.