Spinanes – Imp Years (EP)

Oftentimes the early singles are forgotten, written off as mere training-wheels motions before a band hit its stride and began to glide. On the other hand, art is not like riding a bicycle, nor any other practice-makes-perfect exercise: Sometimes inspiration strikes strongest at the very beginning.

Rebecca Gates eventually made her masterwork in 1998 with Arches And Aisles, but the years and albums inbetween had a hard time living up to the pair of singles she released with little fanfare on tiny indie Imp Records in 1992. “Suffice” b/w “Halloween Candy” came first, casting a lo-fi, garage-pop, guitar-drums-duo spell (with skinsman Scott Plouf) that made it clear magic was in the air, even if the songs hadn’t quite jelled yet.

The payoff came on “Rummy” b/w “Hawaiian Baby”, probably as good a 7-inch as anyone released in the ’90s. Plouf and Gates fully found their rhythm on the A-side, with chiming chords and churning beats propelling along lyrics shrouded in alluring images (“the tallest building in Chicago”) and floating on Gates’ deep yet decidedly feminine vocals. “Hawaiian Baby” remains the best single song she’s ever written — a beautiful, memorable melody teamed with ruminations on long-distance love that are commonly felt but quite uncommonly expressed so creatively (“This is the taste of your right earlobe, can’t you hear me?/This is the taste of your left elbow, don’t you feel it?”).

Tacked on are a track from a Northwest compilation and the previously unreleased “Handful Of Hearts” from the same era. Mostly, though, it’s the singles that deserved not to be forgotten, and which make Imp Years a welcome document.