Today we celebrate another Basement Song: “Pistachio” by Middle Relief. The band is upfront about the track’s humble origins. “Like so many other things,” they write on their Bandcamp page, “Middle Relief was borne out of the curious need for a creative outlet for a bunch of dudes in a suburban New Jersey basement.” What comes first in these situations, the basement or the creativity? Does someone with a creative spark seek out a basement in which to kindle the glowing ember? Or does the very act of being in a basement inspire creativity? I sometimes believe it is the latter. If you stick a group of people in a basement and keep them there long enough, they will either produce an album, find an interesting way to drown themselves in the sump pump, or kill each other while fighting for the TV remote.

“Pistachio” is a post-breakup, I’m-over-you-so-GTFO song with a good guitar hook. The solo at one-minute-twenty caught my ear. The structure and melody within the solo reminded me of Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner on Lou Reed’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal. What? A guy in a basement can’t play like a pro? Who made that rule? Hey, it’s a good solo. Sue me.

The vocal is somewhat less-than-optimal, but we’re a long way from a “he can carry a tune but he carries it in a bucket” situation. We just need to use the old Joe Walsh trick of pushing the vocal track down in the mix a bit.

“Pistachio” is from the album Gap Year, released by Middle Relief last night. I haven’t learned anything about the band, other than that they are from New Jersey, they spend a lot of time in a basement, and their names are Andrew Raimondi, Kevin McCarthy, Gerry Peyton, Scott Brookes, Kyle McCarthy. The album was “recorded and mixed by Kevin McCarthy in his basement.” I assume this is not the Kevin McCarthy who pitches for the Kansas City Royals, but that would be a good guess since he’s, you know, a middle reliever.

You can support deserving basement dwellers like Middle Relief by visiting their Bandcamp page and downloading a few of your favorite tracks. I recommend “Budweiser,” another post-breakup song about the healing power of sitting in a basement and drinking Budweiser. Hurry up and buy something. I can hear the sump pump warming up.