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'If Tenement's expertly crafted 2015 double LP, Predatory Headlights saw the band pushing from their Descendents-inspired buzzy pop roots into a new role as DIY's power pop standard bearers, it also hinted at the band's eclecticism, sprinkling folk, noise, jazz and country across their 78 minute epic. These moments could fairly be described as cinematic and were likely the spark that inspired director Eric Schuman to approach the band to score his Columbia University thesis-film Smother Me in Hugs. It's easy to imagine songwriter Amos Pitsch sifting through a used record bin filled with arcane 70's and 80's nuggets, pulling out LP after LP, describing each's under-appreciated elements - an intro track here, the bridge to this album cut, etc. Music Composed For Smother Me in Hugs feels like a collection of such interludes, expanding the band's broad range with melancholy organ numbers, drum machine grooves, untuned strings, and strange percussion loops, before ending with a series of spaced out synth-scapes. It's an assortment of lo-fi moods, recorded warmly in Tenement's home studio Crutch of Memory in Appleton, WI, which only breaks out into full fledged rock splendor for one song: "Don't Let Them Tell You," a track that easily earns its place on any "best-of" Tenement mixtape, on its own making the record worth a spin or ten.'' - David Combs
This is the second soundtrack arranged and recorded by Amos Pitsch, Julia Blair, Matt Stranger, and Black Thumb, with the addition of Jesse Ponkamo on this production. Limited to 300 copies on black vinyl in a full color gatefold jacket. Download included.