Jeremy Enigk is indie rock's predictably unpredictable little groundhog. About once every year the former singer of '90s emo heroes Sunny Day Real Estate pops his head out of whatever metaphorical cave he's been hiding in and teases unrelenting fans with hints that the frost may be melting. But as soon as the crowd starts to gather 'round, the singer scurries, leaving nothing but unfulfilled anticipation and uncertainty in his wake.
Did he see his shadow or didn't he? Is winter over or not? Why do you keep running away from us, Jeremy?
Despite the frustrating stop-and-go, fans keep hanging on — their undying admiration is evidence of just how powerful Enigk's past work has been. They know it's not over until Enigk says it is ... and Enigk will never say it's over.
It's been that way since the beginning. The members of Sunny Day Real Estate — featuring Foo Fighters bassist Nate Mendel, guitarist Dan Hoerner and former Foo Fighters drummer William Goldsmith — have had a notoriously turbulent relationship. They released Diary, their explosive, emotive post-rock debut, in 1994 but broke up months before the self-titled follow-up ("the pink album") came out in 1995. Fans weren't lonely for too long — in 1996 Enigk went solo and released his heartbreaking and gorgeous solo album Return of the Frog Queen, where he ditched Sunny Day's driving guitars for a lush orchestra of strings, horns and percussion. But the singer put his solo career on hold in 1998, when Sunny Day reunited without Mendel, who was encumbered by Foo Fighters commitments, and released How It Feels to Be Something On, an album that combines the best of both Enigk worlds — the beauty and the noise. The band broke up again after releasing the disappointing The Rising Tide in 2000. Next, Enigk tapped Mendel and Goldsmith to form the more pop-rock-inclined, short-lived project The Fire Theft in 2003.
When Sunny Day Real Estate jumped on the reunion bandwagon for a second time in 2009, it felt legit. And it was, briefly. The original lineup toured the U.S., performed on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, and they played Coachella 2010. They also claimed to be working on new material, and a new song called "10" appeared in the set list alongside favorites from its back catalog of cornerstone emo LPs . Then ... crickets.
Sunny Day went dark again, but Enigk did not. At the beginning of 2011 he tweeted: "Hard at work on a new album. Stay tuned ..." More than two years later, in September 2013, he went on Facebook to apologize for the lack of updates, explaining he was without a manager or a label, but still hoped to release a new album. The only remnant left of the lucid dream was a split 7-inch the band offered for Record Store Day in 2014. It featured the A-side "Lipton Witch" — their first single in 14 years. At press time you can buy a copy from someone in Australia for $300 on eBay.
Enigk is Lucy and his fans are Charlie Brown. No matter how many times he pulls that goddamn football away at the very last minute, they keep running at him as fast as they possibly can. Whether that enthusiastic following is the frightening force that chases him back into hiding, or the loving audience that occasionally draws him out of the shadows over and over again, we can only guess (since he didn't respond to the Scene's interview request), but it appears the singer's spin cycle of carrots and sticks is starting up again.
Just a few weeks ago, Enigk reignited his solo career once again, and in a very public way. He's currently on a surprising 12-city solo acoustic tour (which lands at Mercy Lounge on Wednesday), and his set list has included songs from throughout his career, as well as (fittingly) a cover of The Police's "King of Pain." The notorious recluse also launched a Pledge Music campaign to crowd-fund a solo record that's been five years in the making.
"I'm going to document as much as possible," the singer says in the campaign video. "Photographs, video, like, behind-the-scenes-type style — the evolution of the recording as it goes. You know, just a little bit of insight to what I do, because I'm typically pretty shy. ... It's gonna be interesting."
For $100 you can get your name in the liner notes and a signed CD; for $200 you can get a handwritten lyric sheet of your favorite solo song ("Sorry, no Sunny Day or Fire Theft songs," he says); for $10,000 you can get a producer credit and visit him in the studio for a day.
In just over a week, nearly 600 people had contributed enough money for him to earn 62 percent of his undisclosed goal, with over 50 days still left to donate.
Will this be the public pressure (and financial support) Enigk needs to see this album through? I've got $20 that hopes so.
Email music@nashvillescene.com
