Don’t You Hate When Bands Only Make One Album?

Just recently I learned that a Swedish band I loved called the Honeydrips broke up – in 2010. A simple Google search delivered this harsh news, and it hurt. Not because I listen to them incessantly, but because they (really, it was just Mikael Carlsson) released just one album in 2009, a loner’s manifesto called Here Comes the Future. Upon reading Carlsson’s statement that “I’ve said everything I wanted to say,” it hit me like a low blow to the groin: I will never hear any more of their beatific, electronic, Scando indie pop ever again.

Released by the radical-thinking Sincerely Yours label, whose roster is often surrounded in total ambiguity and unusual catalogue items (a MySpace page, a bulletproof vest, limited T-shirts only the King of Sweden could afford), Here Comes the Future never found much of an audience outside of the label’s obsessive completists. As a greedy music snob, maybe that’s why I love it so much. But more than anything, this news got me thinking about all the times I’ve been disappointed to learn that an artist has just packed it in after one album. More importantly, one album I love.

But Sincerely Yours added a sentiment in the press release that rang true to me: “Sometime, somewhere, someone will pick up a record called Here Comes the Future by the Honeydrips. This person will not quite know what to expect.” This has happened to me on a number of occasions, even with some of these albums. And maybe it was for the best with some of them. You never know what bloated, egotistical artistic statement, or half-assed, contract-fulfilling turd they might have turned in for that difficult sophomore album.

Here is a list of 12 more debut albums released by artists that couldn’t keep it together long enough to make a follow-up for one reason or another, be it tragedy, hatred, failure or laziness.

The Amps

Last Splash Pacer Last Splash Pacer Pacer Last Splash

Odds of a second album? Improbable. I imagine it’s the furthest thing from Kim Deal’s mind, now that she’s quit Pixies and reunited the Breeders‘ classic line-up. Plus, the Amps didn’t even gain a cult status, so why would she?

Clor

NME Clor

Odds of a second album? Never say never. Guitarist Luke Smith has tasted some success as a producer for Foals and Shitdisco, but I don’t see why it couldn’t happen down the line.

Comet

Chandelier Musings Chandelier Musings

Odds of a second album? Not impossible. The Stone brothers reformed Comet in 2005 and released the Feathers From the Wing EP. But that only lasted a year before they packed it in again.

Desaparecidos

Read Music/Speak Spanish huge Pitchfork

Odds of a second album? Excellent. The band reunited last year and have released a few 7”s, but part of me hopes they don’t, so I can preserve my one and only treasured emo moment.

The Exploding Hearts

Guitar Romantic

Odds of a second album? Impossible. In 2006, a compilation of singles and unreleased tracks was released called Shattered. It’s actually a pretty solid follow-up and as close as we’ll ever get to another album.

The Hardship Post

Somebody Spoke Hack

Odds of a second album? Bad. I doubt the band’s name has been mentioned by anyone in years and according to the internet, all three members appear to have vanished.

Life Without Buildings

Live at the Annandale Hotel

Odds of a second album? Without a new singer, not bloody likely. Guitarist Robert Johnston told Muso’s Guide that the band split up because Tompkins didn’t actually want to be in a band anymore. And without her, what’s the point?

Lift To Experience

The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads

Odds of a second album? Not the greatest. Pearson is currently releasing murder ballads for Mute Records, and has admitted that Texas-Jerusalem was originally the first of three parts. But it doesn’t sound like he’s ready to revisit the band that made him lose his mind any time soon.

The Organ

Grab That Gun The Lipster Thieves

Odds of a second album? Not good. With Kroeger’s stranglehold on their recordings, they’d have to change the band’s name as well as their own individual names. God, he’s such an asshole!

Test Icicles

For Screening Purposes Only

Odds of a second album? Real bad. Hynes is on top of the world as a producer (Solange, Sky Ferreira) and as Blood Orange, whose new album is gonna make him a big star. You’ll probably hear a brand new *NSYNC album with JT before anything new from Test Icicles.

The Unicorns

Pitchfork Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone? 2014

Odds of a second album: Pretty good. Nick Thorburn just released his fifth album as Islands, but last year he told Hour that he’s “always open” to a reunion.

Zwan

Mary Star of the Sea Adore Oceania

Odds of a second album? Dreadful. Billy’s ego is far too colossal to allow such a thing. I suggest the other guys reform Zwan as Black Zwan, write songs about Darren Aronofsky’s freaky film, and hire James Iha to sing. Boo-yah!

Honorable mention of bands that split up immediately after a second album: Adorable, Hotel Mexico, Jonathan Fire*Eater, Kenickie, New Kingdom.


Cam Lindsay is on Twitter but has only tweeted once – @yasdnilmac