It’s a shame Marcy Playground will forever be associated with the words “sex” and “candy.”
As far as one-hit wonders go, the strangely libidinous/gluttonous lead-off single from their self-titled 1997 debut really wasn’t so bad; it was mellow yet vaguely compelling, and the rest of the album was surprisingly strong in a well-read-slacker type of way. Tracks such as “Poppies” packed a ballsier, more technically proficient punch and betrayed a fascination with drugs and history, while “Sherry Fraser” proved doubly that singer John Wozniak could write a damn catchy melody. We, like the rest of the world, more or less ignored all of the following releases from the NYC three-piece, but we popular-music fans of the Aughts aren’t so jaded that we can’t appreciate a sincerely impressive debut record a decade after the fact, are we?
Touring in support of their new release, Leaving Wonderland, Marcy Playground performs at Club Red.
Fri., Aug. 28, 7 p.m., 2009
