Creative Writing – Baby Did This

Over the past decade or so, Madrid’s Meritorio Records has earned a strong reputation in the indie rock and jangle realm for its enviable hit-to-misstep ratio. In a similar vein to Slumberland, the Spanish label’s watermark has become a surefire prompt for fans of these genres to sit up and take notice of a new release—even if they haven’t heard of the artist in question before.

Creative Writing are the latest addition to a roster that includes Laughing, Prism Shores, and The High Water Marks, and their debut offers insatiable jangle obsessives plenty to get excited about.

The Orange, Massachusetts band brings plenty of experience to Baby Did This, with members having served apprenticeships with notable acts such as Luxor Rentals, Sore Eros, Jeanines, Estrogen Highs, and Huevos II. It’s a taut little record, with ten songs squeezed into a 35-minute runtime that somehow accommodates a seven-minute-plus epic in glorious closer “Rain”.

There are echoes of the ghosts of jangle past throughout. The chiming arpeggios of “Hallway” evoke early R.E.M., while there are shades of acts as diverse as the House of Love, Hüsker Dü, and obviously the Wedding Present. The wonky, jagged opener “I Love You” is even reminiscent of Pavement—especially the “and we dance…” section, when the soaring guitars are joined by a cacophony of cymbals—highlighting a predilection for classic indie rock.

It’s not all captivating. The plodding “Just Woke Up” heralds a subtle dip in quality during the second half of the album, before the aforementioned “Rain” ensures Baby Did This finishes on a high note.

Creative Writing have left room for improvement on a debut album of merit. Next time around, they might just blow us away.

Baby Did This is out now via Meritorio Records.