Let's Active - Writing the Book of Lost Pages (1986)

 

Rich here. Many of you may remember Mitch Easter, who gained cult-fame status in the '80s as the Producer of Choice for many of the off-kilter bands emerging from the Southern New Wave movement, the foremost of which was R.E.M., whose first several albums were co-produced by Mitch Easter.

 

Overwhelmingly, the bands that recorded in Mitch's Drive-In studio (so-called because it was housed in his parents' garage) were stylistically quirky, featuring somewhat twee vocals, angular melodic sensibilities noted for their unexpected detours, and jangly 12-string guitars -- none more so than Mitch's own band, Let's Active, whose artsy avant-pop was as catchy as it was experimental. 

 

And although Let's Active was theoretically a "band," it was really a Mitch Easter solo project, and by the time of their third release, he was not only writing and singing all the songs, he also was playing all the instruments, as well as producing and engineering the recording sessions himself, as on this new wave-meets-psychedelia piece:

LET'S ACTIVE - "Writing The Book Of Lost Pages"