Assembling is a thoroughly suburban record. Not in the conceptual sense of Real Estate or The Suburb. Rather, Two Sheds’ sophomore LP is suburban in how it prefers to maintain a distance from the bustle, turnover, and excitement that's so close in a city. When I listen to the Los Angeles quintet, I’m reminded of how quickly their home city can look like Anytown, USA if you drive 30 minutes in any direction—neat little plots, calm, manicured lawns, with the palm trees and sunshine making it look just a little more Californian.
Appropriately enough, the CVs of everyone involved are heavy on supporting roles and side projects. After Two Sheds quietly released their debut Strange Ammunition in 2006, singer Caitlin Gutenberger moonlit in Rogue Wave offshoot Release the Sunbird. There, she met new Two Sheds drummer Josh Barnhart, who had once manned the skins for Rogue Wave-ish Port O’Brien. Barnhart replaced Rusty Miller, a collaborator of Cali power-pop mainstay Kelley Stoltz and Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle. The credits of engineer Eli Thomson include Everest and Delta Spirit, both of which are the kind of secretly very popular alt-roots bands you never read about in major publications. And it’s mastered by TW Walsh, a guy name-dropped as David Bazan’s trusted van driver in Pedro the Lion’s "Bands With Managers". Bassist Johnny Gutenberger is the outlier, having played for late-'90s alt-rock almosts Far, a band best known these days for giving Lupe Fiasco a hookman or being a major influence on Deftones.
But while Two Sheds can sound like just about every band they’ve ever been affiliated with, that overstates their range. None of Far’s quasi-emo alt-metal seeps into Assembling, but it would’ve been a welcome jolt on a record that seems to revel in its lack of urgency. Gutenberger's lyrics tend to express passing concern about things not really worth getting worked up about. "It’s Okay" shares a common heartsickness with Rogue Wave’s "Chicago x12", of trying to stay enthusiastic while playing to empty rooms. But it’s nowhere close to touching the latter’s devastation and demoralization, the implication being that if no one comes out to see Two Sheds, at least they’ve got each other.
Gutenberger's voice is suited for lower stakes, appealing and capable of blending in and reminiscing about the instability or novelty of her '90s influences rather than embodying them. "Choose" and "Nighttime" are earnest Mazzy Star homage, "It’s Okay" is Neko Case after being hit with a noise ordinance, the hints of Liz Phair are from her Whitechocolatespaceegg phase. And those are the edgier parts of Assembling. The core is the kind of clap-happy folk-pop that picks up right where Strange Ammunition left off, which is Los Angeles in 2006. On any given night at the erstwhile Spaceland back then, you might see Elvis Perkins or the Little Ones or the Parson Redheads or any number of Midlake-esque acts and be told in all seriousness that this was everything exciting about indie rock.
I found out after the fact that Assembling was the result of a dare where Gutenberger was challenged to write 20 songs per day, and she did so for three days. Accounting for sleep, bathroom breaks, checking Twitter, and milling about the house, that rounds out to a new song every 45 minutes or so. In their words, the 14 resultant songs (and a pitch-shifted conversation about a drum set tagged as the closer) were considered "solid" enough to be included here. They are indeed sturdy and uniform in structure, with choruses arriving with the pleasant regularity of the mailman or street sweepers. The breeziness ensures that everything passes by like neighborly small talk, getting on before anything gets too invested or deep. Ultimately, it’s suburban in that there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s certainly a nice place to not have to worry about much. But if you’re feeling even slightly weird or craving adventure, Assembling can remind you just how suffocating Anytown, USA can be.
