Glossary

Glossary's third album, How We Handle Our Midnights, seems designed to make longtime indie-rock fans melt within its first minute. For six years, singer, songwriter, and guitarist Joey Kneiser and the rest of his small-town Tennessee band have employed a bash-it-out, kitchen-sink approach reminiscent of mid-'90s outfits like Butterglory and Small Factory, but with a flair for expansiveness and guitar heroism that rivals proto-grunge acts Eleventh Dream Day and Cell. The group members tend to take their shambling tunefulness and stretch out, playing closely together and following their own natural momentum. On How We Handle Our Midnights, Kneiser and company nod to their country and classic-rock influences, generating a warm, rootsy sound while still raising a racket and heading off in unexpected directions. On "These City Lights Shine," Glossary's tightness and sense of adventure manifest in a lyrical guitar lick which floats into a fuzzy, jagged riff, while the rhythm section at first bounces steadily before gaining strength. By the time Kneiser's raspy, twangy vocals enter, a minute has elapsed and Glossary has established its casual but firm control over roaring southern alt-rock. The similarly rolling and stinging "Remember Me Tomorrow Night" follows, chugging along long enough for its rhythmic clatter to penetrate the unconscious, while the harmonica-and-slide showcase "Hold Me Down" reintroduces a country element while stating the album's theme in lyrics about wanting to hover high above a small town, to see the open fields and the roads that connect to elsewhere. How We Handle Our Midnights flags some in its second half, or maybe it just never again matches the power of "At Midnight," but it stays strong by returning to the idea of youthful dreams tempered by gradual acceptance of the go-nowhere pace of Middle America. There are echoes of strip-mall practice spaces and undeveloped grassy lots in Glossary's wall-rattling stomps, and an understanding of the restlessness that comes from being stuck. --Noel Murray - The Onion

Over the past six years, Murfreesboro's Glossary have warmed up from restless coed indie poppers to purveyors of heartfelt Americana. Where once they sneered at their geographical background (1998's Southern By The Grace of Location), they've since grown to embrace their roots.

The new How We Handle Our Midnights (released this month on Undertow) presents a song cycle that lyrically probes what late-20-somethings do after their day jobs. Perhaps unintentionally, they confront specifically what Southern late-20-somethings do after work. Whether Joey Kneiser, Glossary's songwriter, was thinking about this as he penned the record is immaterial Û there is a humidity and an alone-under-a-great-big-sky quality to the songs and music which, let's face it, kids in New York and Chicago just don't get.

The opener, These City Lights Shine, doesn't hustle, but drives evenly with warm acoustic and electric guitars playing together hand-in-glove. Kneiser's lyrics paint vivid images: ''I've been living in the glory of a memory set to East Tennessee and narrated by highway signs.'' The second song, Remember Me Tomorrow Tonight, continues the mood and offers another familiar visual: ''Open the doors wide so the music can feel the night.'' At Midnight again manages to fuse Glossary's alt-country and indie-pop leanings into their own style.

The record flows seamlessly from track to track. Kneiser and the band do a fantastic job carrying the mood from song to song. There's an easy-rock feeling to the songs, not unlike a young Fleetwood Mac or Eagles, which translates perfectly for late-night listening.

Ten years ago a small band from St Louis named Uncle Tupelo took their love of country music and set it to the rhythm of their own lives. While early attempts sounded affected and uneven, the songs and the band eventually jelled to make a wonderfully authentic and touching record, Anodyne. In the same way Uncle Tupelo cultivated a love of things past into a timely and passionate love of the present, Glossary has turned the corner, now delivering with conviction what they once could only respectfully imitate. Grudgingly or not, Glossary are now Southern by the grace of decision, and we can hope they are only a step or two from their own Anodyne. - Todd Anderson - Nashville Rage

Over the past six years, Murfreesboro's Glossary have warmed up from restless coed indie poppers to purveyors of heartfelt Americana. Where once they sneered at their geographical background (1998's Southern By The Grace of Location), they've since grown to embrace their roots.

The new How We Handle Our Midnights (released this month on Undertow) presents a song cycle that lyrically probes what late-20-somethings do after their day jobs. Perhaps unintentionally, they confront specifically what Southern late-20-somethings do after work. Whether Joey Kneiser, Glossary's songwriter, was thinking about this as he penned the record is immaterial Û there is a humidity and an alone-under-a-great-big-sky quality to the songs and music which, let's face it, kids in New York and Chicago just don't get.

The opener, These City Lights Shine, doesn't hustle, but drives evenly with warm acoustic and electric guitars playing together hand-in-glove. Kneiser's lyrics paint vivid images: ''I've been living in the glory of a memory set to East Tennessee and narrated by highway signs.'' The second song, Remember Me Tomorrow Tonight, continues the mood and offers another familiar visual: ''Open the doors wide so the music can feel the night.'' At Midnight again manages to fuse Glossary's alt-country and indie-pop leanings into their own style.

The record flows seamlessly from track to track. Kneiser and the band do a fantastic job carrying the mood from song to song. There's an easy-rock feeling to the songs, not unlike a young Fleetwood Mac or Eagles, which translates perfectly for late-night listening.

Ten years ago a small band from St Louis named Uncle Tupelo took their love of country music and set it to the rhythm of their own lives. While early attempts sounded affected and uneven, the songs and the band eventually jelled to make a wonderfully authentic and touching record, Anodyne. In the same way Uncle Tupelo cultivated a love of things past into a timely and passionate love of the present, Glossary has turned the corner, now delivering with conviction what they once could only respectfully imitate. Grudgingly or not, Glossary are now Southern by the grace of decision, and we can hope they are only a step or two from their own Anodyne. - Todd Anderson - Nashville Rage

Usually there's a reason a reputation gets started. This girl Angie in high school was named a tease because she made out with various members of the baseball team during any given keg party but not a single person was ever known to score. Chicago is called the windy city because, well, it's windy and Nashville is, and always will be, known for country music. While several non-country acts have come from the depths of the east Tennessee town, almost every release from the Music City has at least an echo of its geographic roots somewhere in there. Hailing from nearby Murphreesboro, Glossary's latest release, How We Handle Our Midnights, provides no exception. While basking in modern, more "indie" talents, the group can't deny that are just a town away from Nashville. The album drives through each track, easing into the turns as songs pass by in melodic speed. Frontman Joey Kneiser slips inbetween traditional emo pleas to simple vocalizations that remind us why the South is such a different place than the North. Maybe it's just the pedal steel talking but I know those northern boys don't hurt like this.

Realizations of adulthood set in("At Midnight"), the frustration of poverty overwhelms ("When easy Street Gets Hard to Find"), and the fact is that the past will alway casts shadows on the present ("These City Lights Shine"). There's the prettiest duet in "Lonesome Stray" and "Marigold Moon" opens with the quiet cry of harmonica. Kneiser's voice makes me think we're sitting out by the water, feet trailing the relection of the moon as he explains to me just why the bad and the good come hand in hand. The production is crisp with Kneiser's twangs getting the same equal play as the light bangs of Jason Manley's precise drumming. Kelly Smith's voice provides a beautiful background to the compelling little creation that yet again proves that, even when you come from one town over, you can't ever leave your roots behind. Thankfully, Glossary doesn't even try. - Southeastern Performer Magazine

Usually there's a reason a reputation gets started. This girl Angie in high school was named a tease because she made out with various members of the baseball team during any given keg party but not a single person was ever known to score. Chicago is called the windy city because, well, it's windy and Nashville is, and always will be, known for country music. While several non-country acts have come from the depths of the east Tennessee town, almost every release from the Music City has at least an echo of its geographic roots somewhere in there. Hailing from nearby Murphreesboro, Glossary's latest release, How We Handle Our Midnights, provides no exception. While basking in modern, more "indie" talents, the group can't deny that are just a town away from Nashville. The album drives through each track, easing into the turns as songs pass by in melodic speed. Frontman Joey Kneiser slips inbetween traditional emo pleas to simple vocalizations that remind us why the South is such a different place than the North. Maybe it's just the pedal steel talking but I know those northern boys don't hurt like this.

Realizations of adulthood set in("At Midnight"), the frustration of poverty overwhelms ("When easy Street Gets Hard to Find"), and the fact is that the past will alway casts shadows on the present ("These City Lights Shine"). There's the prettiest duet in "Lonesome Stray" and "Marigold Moon" opens with the quiet cry of harmonica. Kneiser's voice makes me think we're sitting out by the water, feet trailing the relection of the moon as he explains to me just why the bad and the good come hand in hand. The production is crisp with Kneiser's twangs getting the same equal play as the light bangs of Jason Manley's precise drumming. Kelly Smith's voice provides a beautiful background to the compelling little creation that yet again proves that, even when you come from one town over, you can't ever leave your roots behind. Thankfully, Glossary doesn't even try. - Southeastern Performer Magazine

Like a careering politician, Glossary's singer-songwriter Joey Kneiser knows how to stay on message on the band's third full-length, How We Handle Our Midnights. Unlike the often-lampooned leader of the U.S., however, Kneiser is a clever wordsmith, one who finds some hope amid small-town boredom, cynicism and helplessness. Still, his country-tinged songs ache with a longing for change.

In a gruff twang that's less whiny than J Mascis' and not as snide as Evan Dando's, Kneiser pines for the simplicity of youth, yet also seeks to escape the bonds of familiarity. Using simple words to tell age-old tales, Kneiser sounds like he's singing from experience when he lands lines like, "Now we're working all week just to find that the person you always thought you'd be just got left behind."

How We Handle covers pretty much the same ground as the band's first two full-length albums and last year's Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts EP: time-tested, nuthin'-fancy country-rock that could please both Uncle Tupelo fans and more open-minded Skynyrd devotees.

Album highlights include "Hold Me Down," the most classically country-sounding song on the disc; the hard-charging "When Easy Street Gets Hard to Find"; and the melancholy "Daylight Saving," which features dark images such as "Put my last breath in a jar/and hide under the mat of your car." The songs fit together well thematically and musically, but can be claustrophobic, with little room for band members to flex their musical muscles. Dave Brigham - junkmedia.org

Like a careering politician, Glossary's singer-songwriter Joey Kneiser knows how to stay on message on the band's third full-length, How We Handle Our Midnights. Unlike the often-lampooned leader of the U.S., however, Kneiser is a clever wordsmith, one who finds some hope amid small-town boredom, cynicism and helplessness. Still, his country-tinged songs ache with a longing for change.

In a gruff twang that's less whiny than J Mascis' and not as snide as Evan Dando's, Kneiser pines for the simplicity of youth, yet also seeks to escape the bonds of familiarity. Using simple words to tell age-old tales, Kneiser sounds like he's singing from experience when he lands lines like, "Now we're working all week just to find that the person you always thought you'd be just got left behind."

How We Handle covers pretty much the same ground as the band's first two full-length albums and last year's Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts EP: time-tested, nuthin'-fancy country-rock that could please both Uncle Tupelo fans and more open-minded Skynyrd devotees.

Album highlights include "Hold Me Down," the most classically country-sounding song on the disc; the hard-charging "When Easy Street Gets Hard to Find"; and the melancholy "Daylight Saving," which features dark images such as "Put my last breath in a jar/and hide under the mat of your car." The songs fit together well thematically and musically, but can be claustrophobic, with little room for band members to flex their musical muscles. Dave Brigham - junkmedia.org

Back when Basement Life was just starting out, there were a few bands I really tried to rally behind. First there was Matt Pond PA, whom I.ve interviewed and written about approximately a thousand times in the past three years, both for Basement Life as well as other publications. Then there was the Trouble With Sweeney, a band I championed so tough that I.d eventually go so far as to release their mini-LP, Play Karen and Others, on the short lived Basement Life Records. (Do you have any idea how expensive it is to run a label? Christ.)

After hearing their 2000 full-length, This Is All We.ve Learned about Living, Glossary was another one of those bands I wholeheartedly endorsed, but for one reason or another, nothing really ever came of it. And to be honest, until their new record showed up in my mailbox a month or so ago, I.d pretty much forgotten about them. As it turns out, these folks from Murfreesboro, TN are still at it, and it seems like they might be ready for the success that so cruelly passed them by a few years ago.

How We Handle Our Midnights is Glossary's third full-length, and it.s by far the most cohesive and mature batch of songs they.ve ever assembled. The loose country vibe I loved so much about This is All We.ve Learned about Living isn.t quite as evident these days, as everything seems a bit more polished, but as is always the case, good songwriting shines through no matter how it.s packaged. In singer /guitarist Joey Kneiser.s case the songs come packaged with a Jayhawks-like sheen and an unabashed love of traditional country rock. Some folks will complain that Glossary.s music lacks a certain amount of bells and whistles, while others . myself included . will find them incredibly refreshing for exactly the same reason. I know I.ve said it once before, but I swear, these guys really do deserve to be heard. (Mike Conklin) - Basement-Life

Back when Basement Life was just starting out, there were a few bands I really tried to rally behind. First there was Matt Pond PA, whom I.ve interviewed and written about approximately a thousand times in the past three years, both for Basement Life as well as other publications. Then there was the Trouble With Sweeney, a band I championed so tough that I.d eventually go so far as to release their mini-LP, Play Karen and Others, on the short lived Basement Life Records. (Do you have any idea how expensive it is to run a label? Christ.)

After hearing their 2000 full-length, This Is All We.ve Learned about Living, Glossary was another one of those bands I wholeheartedly endorsed, but for one reason or another, nothing really ever came of it. And to be honest, until their new record showed up in my mailbox a month or so ago, I.d pretty much forgotten about them. As it turns out, these folks from Murfreesboro, TN are still at it, and it seems like they might be ready for the success that so cruelly passed them by a few years ago.

How We Handle Our Midnights is Glossary's third full-length, and it.s by far the most cohesive and mature batch of songs they.ve ever assembled. The loose country vibe I loved so much about This is All We.ve Learned about Living isn.t quite as evident these days, as everything seems a bit more polished, but as is always the case, good songwriting shines through no matter how it.s packaged. In singer /guitarist Joey Kneiser.s case the songs come packaged with a Jayhawks-like sheen and an unabashed love of traditional country rock. Some folks will complain that Glossary.s music lacks a certain amount of bells and whistles, while others . myself included . will find them incredibly refreshing for exactly the same reason. I know I.ve said it once before, but I swear, these guys really do deserve to be heard. (Mike Conklin) - Basement-Life

4 out of 5 "stars"
The quality (and quantity) of bands that come out of the little "holler" of Murfreesboro, TN shouldn't surprise anyone. With one of the nations' top recording programs in town at Middle Tennessee State University, the place is bound to be a hotbed for bands, musicians-to-be, and probably quite a few has-beens as well. Notable successful and somewhat-successful regionals include The Katies, The Features, and Fluid Ounces/Seth Timbs.

Not to be lost in the local shuffle are the land's purveyors of thinking-man's southern rock, kicked-up and dirtied-down Americana, and just about every term that rock critics are tossing about for "alt-country" these days. Listen up, Glossary is your new band.

For the few indie-uninitiated readers who have yet to veer their radio dial south of 92.1, think about getting to know a young, three-guitar-driven assemblage who appeal as easily to the Springsteen crowd, the wrasslin'-star-emblazoned muscle-t crowd, and the bar-brawlin' brutes as they do to you college-edjumucated, readin' types. Here you are music fan - your band has arrived. Well, actually, they've been around for a bit actually. With an inclination for multi-word titles and a impressive penchant for honest storytelling, Glossary is back with their new full-lengther, How We Handle Out Midnights.

The band's third record starts off right where each of their previous has left off - with strong Southern stories and soundscapes. Directly from the first lyric, songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Joey Kneiser's candid narratives provide the drive to Glossary's everyman appeal, "The Southern sky is like a halo burnin' bright / Come and cast your light down on me / 'Cause I've been living off luck now for a while / And solitude doesn't smile easily." Maybe if The Replacements weren't constantly loaded, they would have come around to Midnights' track one, "These City Lights Shine."

With just a moment's break, the staccato snare of "Remember Me Tomorrow Tonight" is on the listener like a pack of rabid dogs. The band's three guitars are easily prominent for the verse-work; and vocalist/percussionist Kelly Smith's sweet, puerile harmonies and shakers give Kneiser's throaty, guttural vocals a reprise throughout the chorus.

The stuff of classic Country & Western songs is revisited dutifully throughout Midnights, but the record is cleaved somewhat by the arrangement of the tracking. Understand that these songs are near perfect in their own right, notably "Hold Me Down," "Lonesome Stray," and "Marigold Moon." Each cut shines due to (the aforementioned) Smith's harmonies, the inclusion of tasteful harmonica and lap steel, and most likely the respect that these relative youngsters have for the genre.

With all Southern roots and grace aside, this record could have as easily come from Dinosaur's side of Boston or Neil Young's California as from a late-80's Minneapolis or Athens (or, you guessed it, this decade's Murfreesboro). How We Handle Our Midnights is nearly faultless and Glossary is, as usual, on the road. Do yourself a favor, tune your radio below 90, and check your local paper for their tour - nowontour.com

4 out of 5 "stars"
The quality (and quantity) of bands that come out of the little "holler" of Murfreesboro, TN shouldn't surprise anyone. With one of the nations' top recording programs in town at Middle Tennessee State University, the place is bound to be a hotbed for bands, musicians-to-be, and probably quite a few has-beens as well. Notable successful and somewhat-successful regionals include The Katies, The Features, and Fluid Ounces/Seth Timbs.

Not to be lost in the local shuffle are the land's purveyors of thinking-man's southern rock, kicked-up and dirtied-down Americana, and just about every term that rock critics are tossing about for "alt-country" these days. Listen up, Glossary is your new band.

For the few indie-uninitiated readers who have yet to veer their radio dial south of 92.1, think about getting to know a young, three-guitar-driven assemblage who appeal as easily to the Springsteen crowd, the wrasslin'-star-emblazoned muscle-t crowd, and the bar-brawlin' brutes as they do to you college-edjumucated, readin' types. Here you are music fan - your band has arrived. Well, actually, they've been around for a bit actually. With an inclination for multi-word titles and a impressive penchant for honest storytelling, Glossary is back with their new full-lengther, How We Handle Out Midnights.

The band's third record starts off right where each of their previous has left off - with strong Southern stories and soundscapes. Directly from the first lyric, songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Joey Kneiser's candid narratives provide the drive to Glossary's everyman appeal, "The Southern sky is like a halo burnin' bright / Come and cast your light down on me / 'Cause I've been living off luck now for a while / And solitude doesn't smile easily." Maybe if The Replacements weren't constantly loaded, they would have come around to Midnights' track one, "These City Lights Shine."

With just a moment's break, the staccato snare of "Remember Me Tomorrow Tonight" is on the listener like a pack of rabid dogs. The band's three guitars are easily prominent for the verse-work; and vocalist/percussionist Kelly Smith's sweet, puerile harmonies and shakers give Kneiser's throaty, guttural vocals a reprise throughout the chorus.

The stuff of classic Country & Western songs is revisited dutifully throughout Midnights, but the record is cleaved somewhat by the arrangement of the tracking. Understand that these songs are near perfect in their own right, notably "Hold Me Down," "Lonesome Stray," and "Marigold Moon." Each cut shines due to (the aforementioned) Smith's harmonies, the inclusion of tasteful harmonica and lap steel, and most likely the respect that these relative youngsters have for the genre.

With all Southern roots and grace aside, this record could have as easily come from Dinosaur's side of Boston or Neil Young's California as from a late-80's Minneapolis or Athens (or, you guessed it, this decade's Murfreesboro). How We Handle Our Midnights is nearly faultless and Glossary is, as usual, on the road. Do yourself a favor, tune your radio below 90, and check your local paper for their tour - nowontour.com

CDs in our mailbox are always a reason for excitement, but the little package from Nashville put me over the top. Inside was the brand new CD from Glossary, How We Handle Our Midnights. Last year.s EP, Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts, was a true gem. It contained five songs that covered the wide and very difficult terrain of loss, want, desire, and struggle with grace and confidence. It stayed in the player for quite some time, and with each play, a little more nuance came to light.

On their new release (which features songs from DFAGH), lead singer and songwriter Joey Kneiser unspools songs with complex thoughts that are subtle and encompassing, as in .Remember Me Tomorrow Tonight,. where he plaintively sings: .Turn the radio up tonight, so I can watch you dance across the sky,/and open up the car doors wide, so the music can feel the night,/tomorrow if I run out of life, remember me how I was tonight,/just so scared, but still alive and that makes everything all right.. He writes superb songs about the loss of youth, dreams of escape, and the desire to climb up and out of the depths.said depths of poverty, depression, loss.

Kneiser is ably backed by a fantastic band featuring Bingham Barnes (bass), Greg Jacks (guitar, vocals), Kelly Smith (vocas, percussion), Todd Beene (guitar, piano), and J.D. Reager (drums). The standout effect on this album, though, is Kneiser.s voice. Like Neil Young (whom they covered in an appearance at Frederick.s last winter), Kneiser uses his voice to ably communicate and give his words a stark dignity and a weight that is shattering in many places. He delivers lyrics like knives, whether they are meant to hurt or defend. On several songs, he is balanced nicely by Smith. .Lonesome Stray. paints Kneiser as a vagabond searching for love, and Smith, with honey-sweet vocals, offers a home, even if it requires some compromise.

Glossary is southern rock at its best.a hybrid that holds fast to the attributes of classic country music while not so much celebrating the southern lifestyle as pointing out the holes that are there. They do so with a poetry that is not seen as often as it should be in music. How We Handle Our Midnights offers the warm southern breezes of lazy back roads and the allure of escape. It is a world etched in love and despair.

- Playback St. Louis

CDs in our mailbox are always a reason for excitement, but the little package from Nashville put me over the top. Inside was the brand new CD from Glossary, How We Handle Our Midnights. Last year.s EP, Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts, was a true gem. It contained five songs that covered the wide and very difficult terrain of loss, want, desire, and struggle with grace and confidence. It stayed in the player for quite some time, and with each play, a little more nuance came to light.

On their new release (which features songs from DFAGH), lead singer and songwriter Joey Kneiser unspools songs with complex thoughts that are subtle and encompassing, as in .Remember Me Tomorrow Tonight,. where he plaintively sings: .Turn the radio up tonight, so I can watch you dance across the sky,/and open up the car doors wide, so the music can feel the night,/tomorrow if I run out of life, remember me how I was tonight,/just so scared, but still alive and that makes everything all right.. He writes superb songs about the loss of youth, dreams of escape, and the desire to climb up and out of the depths.said depths of poverty, depression, loss.

Kneiser is ably backed by a fantastic band featuring Bingham Barnes (bass), Greg Jacks (guitar, vocals), Kelly Smith (vocas, percussion), Todd Beene (guitar, piano), and J.D. Reager (drums). The standout effect on this album, though, is Kneiser.s voice. Like Neil Young (whom they covered in an appearance at Frederick.s last winter), Kneiser uses his voice to ably communicate and give his words a stark dignity and a weight that is shattering in many places. He delivers lyrics like knives, whether they are meant to hurt or defend. On several songs, he is balanced nicely by Smith. .Lonesome Stray. paints Kneiser as a vagabond searching for love, and Smith, with honey-sweet vocals, offers a home, even if it requires some compromise.

Glossary is southern rock at its best.a hybrid that holds fast to the attributes of classic country music while not so much celebrating the southern lifestyle as pointing out the holes that are there. They do so with a poetry that is not seen as often as it should be in music. How We Handle Our Midnights offers the warm southern breezes of lazy back roads and the allure of escape. It is a world etched in love and despair.

- Playback St. Louis