Not quite an Unrest reunion but pretty damn close! For her Maybe It’s Reno full-length debut, Bridget Cross is joined by former bandmates Mark Robinson and Phil Krauth (along with Basin Street’s George Kuhar and Jordan Strudel) and the resulting album pulls from the same genius pop minimalism of classics like Unrest’s “Imperial f.f.f.r.r.” and Young Marble Giants. Recommended!

As influential as Unrest (and band leader Mark Robinson's TeenBeat label) were to early- to mid-'90s DIY indie pop, they're not a group that gets championed much these days. It's a real shame actually, as records like Imperial ff.rr. and Perfect Teeth sound as good to me today as Pavement's Slanted and Enchanted or Sebadoh's III. After the group disbanded in 1994 the members would continue to release various individual projects on TeenBeat, though nothing could touch Unrest when they were at their peak. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to hear the new eponymous full-length by Maybe It's Reno, the nom de plume of former Unrest bassist Bridget Cross (later of Air Miami and an early member of Velocity Girl), and a quick scan of the liners reveal that her former bandmates Robinson and drummer Phil Krauth are accompanying her on the first seven tracks. I'd be blowing smoke if I tried to paint this album as a reunion of sorts, but damn, there are so many moments that could easily be mistaken as Unrest outtakes. Album opener "Baby's Lost in Tracks" could easily sound at home on the B.P.M. collection (and even an early Factory Records release), Cross' crystalline vocals carried by the spacious counter-play between her circular bass melodies and Krauth's breezy, double-time ride cymbal and finally dissolving into a hypnotic, minute-and-a-half wash of Robinson's chiming guitars.

Like Unrest, much of the Maybe It's Reno album is rooted in pop minimalism, only here additional instrumentation like electric piano and synthesizer accent and intersect Robinson's layered guitars in songs like "Gravestones and Christmas Trees" and "Sugarloaf Mountain," the latter track slowly fading out with the inclusion of a drum machine. And while the atmosphere of these songs sound wonderfully familiar and comfortable, Cross makes plenty of stylistic divergences, reminding us that this is her project, after all. Joined by Basin Street's George Kuhar and Jordan Strudel for the remaining three tracks, there's no holding back in songs like "Lonestar" and the punked-up "Drunk Pilot," while the lovely "December" finds Cross accompanied by the skeletal chords of a piano. Tacked on at the end are bonus versions and reprises of "Sugarloaf Mountain" and "Days Like Cups." If you can't already tell, Maybe It's Reno started a bit of a TeenBeat revival for me this week, now if I could only find that old TeenBeat mousepad that I bought at Arlington's Go Records all those years ago! [GH] (April 25, 2008)