Silkworm left us with nine albums, none of them awful or even below par. Maintaining status quo was their specialty, to the point where casual fans grew bored with their consistency. Such dependability is a tough sell from a band with no gimmicks and no real drama despite label and personnel shifts; they just ended up on the 'quietly invaluable' end of the Touch and Go roster's spectrum, and continued to crank out albums, surprising even themselves at their longevity. It took a tragic and senseless accident-- the death of drummer Michael Dahlquist in 2005-- to end the band's career.
The shadow of his sudden passing looms over Chokes!, an EP that marks the band's final release. But even though these recordings are salvaged from unfinished sessions for a now-scrapped full-length (with assists from Matt Kadane on keys), this EP achieves something unexpected in its own right. Tenderly nostalgic without ever taking itself too seriously, Chokes! is as good a series finale as any fan could hope.
Silkworm's final EP is meant to function as a snapshot, and it does that and more. The band never made any bones about its classic rock influences, from the attention-begging but tasteful soloing of guitarist/vocalist Andy Cohen to triumphant and irony-free covers of bands like Small Faces or Fleetwood Mac that they always managed to make their own. Silkworm seemed to get more and more tightly wound, though, through records like Italian Platinum and It'll Be Cool, where they made few missteps but brought fewer surprises. Chokes! is a much looser document and in turn catches some of the intangible wistfulness of the band's heroes.
Nowhere is that more apparent than on opener "Bar Ice", a song as infectious as any they've recorded. There are big choruses in Silkworm's oeuvre, sure, but not many sing-alongs like this. Tim Midgett finds new drama in his vocals, stretching and hanging on his syllables in near-parody, which makes the track an even bigger breath of fresh air. From the lyrics in the booklet (printed opposite a requiem for Dahlquist), it's not hard to guess the subject matter, but this is a joyous tribute, from Cohen's all-out wailing ("I've been fighting my bloodline") to even a silly moment of falsetto. Why these guys had never written an anthem like this before is a mystery to me, but it's an undeniable rush of bittersweet nostalgia.
The other tracks are just as casual, including Midgett's vocal on "Int'l Harbor of Grace", which nearly matches the elation of "Bar Ice". Silkworm continue to indulge their classic rock jones, as "Low Blow" channels Neil Young in its crashing guitars and strained vocal, and "Lily White & Cherry Red" is a rambling story-song that gains charm as it gradually rolls off the tracks. "Wrote a Song for Everyone" is a CCR tune recorded alongside the band's take on the Faces' "Ooh La La" for the Lifestyle sessions. Held against that other cover, you can tell it was omitted for good reason, but Cohen does a commendable job of channeling Fogerty's distinctive melody without that 90-year-old badger howl. Chokes! as a whole could stand as an epilogue to the era of the Crust Brothers and the underrated Lifestyle, an album that was more indebted to its influences but with an easy, affable charm and melodies that dig with time.
But if all that doesn't sound like much to the uninitiated, it was Dahlquist-- and it's a point I hate to harp on-- that helped make the band unique, his stern, off-kilter behind-the-beat style giving their songs an otherworldly propulsion. It's also Dahlquist on vocals at the record's end, singing a version of "Spanish Harlem Incident" recorded live with the Crust Brothers, with only a guitar or two for accompaniment. It should be said that even this poignant closer doesn't feel maudlin in the least; rather, it feels reverent, fitting in perfectly with the feel of Chokes!, and really, with the feel of Silkworm. The record ends with more of the band simply honoring their heroes in their own indebted, imperfect style yet somehow hitting an untouched nerve. We got bored of nine albums of this, somehow. Chokes! reminds us what we have to look back on.
